American football’s NFL has announced a new multi-year partnership with US Bank, making it the league’s official bank and wealth management sponsor.
The tie-up also includes US Bank becoming the presenting sponsor of the Super Bowl MVP Award, starting with next year’s edition of the showpiece, and a top-tier sponsor of the NFL Flag Championships.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The official deal builds on a banking relationship between the two organizations spanning more than 20 years.
Notably, the league’s banking rights haven’t been available in more than 30 years. The deal helps fill a void left by Visa, whose sponsorship rights expired in March after three decades of partnership, the second-longest such relationship in league history behind only Gatorade, which first partnered with the NFL in 1983.
Under the previous arrangement, Visa served as the financial services partner of the NFL, but it also owned all associated categories, including peer-to-peer banking and retail banking, which Visa passed through to North Carolina-based Truist Bank.
Going forward, the NFL has carved up its financial services sponsorships from one category into three. Last week, the league announced credit card company American Express as its official payments partner from the 2026 season to replace Visa.
The combined value of the US Bank and American Express deals is understood to be worth more than the Visa contract. American Express is reportedly paying between $910 million and $950 million over seven years.
The NFL has not yet named its peer-to-peer banking sponsor, but global online payment service PayPal is understood to be the favorite to secure a deal.
As part of its deal, US Bank will additionally offer financial education through US Bank Financial Edge, a customized financial guidance program designed to support players.
Renie Anderson, chief revenue officer and executive vice president of the NFL, said: “US Bank is a trusted financial institution with a strong commitment to communities, financial stability, and education for all.
“The work we will do together, especially around financial education expertise, will empower individuals at every stage of their financial journey and specifically help our players to succeed long after their careers on the field have ended. We’re excited to build on our decades-long relationship with US Bank with this new official partnership.”
The NFL continues to add brands from the financial sector to its commercial portfolio, with deals already in place with Intuit as its financial and accounting software sponsor and Rocket Mortgage as its mortgage partner.
The new partnership expands US Bank’s presence in the league, where it currently serves as the official bank partner of the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers.
In terms of other recent NFL commercial activity, last month, the league announced a global agreement with US-based multi-national conglomerate Kraft Heinz that will see some of the world’s most recognizable food brands marketed across the league.
