Buckeyes Were the First Domino in Significant Day for College Football Sponsorships
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Tuesday in college football was one of those days that will go down in history as a fairly significant one. It was the day that three of the major programs in college football announced official sponsorships with massive brands.
Just a few weeks after the Big 12 announced a sponsorship with Monster Energy Drinks, in which they were made a mockery of, the individual schools got involved.
The Big 12's deal totaled out to be just $20 million for the entire conference's naming rights to basketball and football. When distributed, each school gets just $1 million. It is truly a joke of an agreement and one that folks should have lost their jobs over.
On Tuesday, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the first school to announce that they had come to an agreement for a jersey patch themselves. They sold the rights to a shoulder patch to Chase Bank for all of their sports uniforms in exchange for $17 million.
The deal felt like it was way too small for the amount of exposure that Chase is going to get throughout the year. However, the $17 million is more than several NBA teams that have sold the same patch, including the 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles Clippers. So all in all, not that bad.
Ohio State's jersey patch deal will pay more annually than:
Clippers (Aspiration at $13M)
Cavaliers (Goodyear at $10M)
76ers (StubHub at $5M) https://t.co/rm0BJhQdDp— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) July 28, 2026
Then, the Buckeyes were dunked on by one of their nonconference friends, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Just two hours after the Buckeyes' announcement, the Irish announced their partnership with SoFi Technologies, a growing bank in the country.
Their deal for the left shoulder patch is rumored to be between $19 and $20 million per year. It has yet to be seen if it is all of the Notre Dame programs or just the football team.
Those weren't the only two partnerships.
The next major one came from Happy Valley as the Nittany Lions are trying to seriously enter the fold to compete in college football. They came to terms with GIANT Food Stores to become the official grocer of Penn State Athletics.
The partnership will last through 2032, and GIANT will be seen largely within all stadiums on Penn State's campus, especially within the newly renovated Beaver Stadium.
The business of college football continues to be a very fascinating study of the evolution of the industry and how teams are trying to find different advantages through partnerships to try and scrape up as much money as possible.
The Buckeyes will always be a trendsetter in college sports, and Tuesday was yet another example of that reality.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos