The University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University have announced lucrative jersey patch sponsorship deals with financial services giants SoFi Technologies and JPMorganChase, respectively.
SoFi has agreed a multi-year partnership with Notre Dame Athletics as the department's official financial services partner and the first brand to appear as a jersey patch on the Fighting Irish uniforms in every sport starting this season.
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 six-year deal is understood to be worth about $18 million to $20 million per year and is believed to be the richest in college athletics history.
It usurps Ohio State’s deal with JPMorganChase, which was unveiled earlier on the same day (Tuesday), worth nearly $17 million per year.
JPMorganChase will have jersey patch rights for all 36 of the Buckeyes' men's and women's teams.
The agreement, the bank’s first in college athletics, also designates Chase as the official bank sponsor of Ohio State Athletics.
The investment will also provide new resources to support Ohio State student-athletes through NIL opportunities.
The partnership will be activated through fan engagement across Ohio State Athletics through expanded branding at Ohio Stadium and the Schottenstein Center, and JPMorganChase's role as presenting sponsor of the new 1922 Club.
The agreement was facilitated in collaboration with University and Athletics Leadership and Learfield's Ohio State Sports Properties, the exclusive multimedia rights holder for Ohio State Athletics.
Through SoFi’s deal with Notre Dame, the company will establish a new annual $1.4 million fund to support the athletics department’s “4 for Forever” program, which funds scholarships in 26 sports and supports student-athletes through financial education, career development, and other opportunities.
As Notre Dame Athletics' official financial services partner, SoFi will support student-athletes on and off the field through financial education, career development and marketing opportunities, exclusive on-campus experiences, national broadcast integrations, and community engagement initiatives.
In terms of other recent jersey patch deals, Michigan State announced a deal with the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) last month.
Late last year, the University of Las Vegas (UNLV) signed a five-season deal with Acesso Biologics, the local medicine company, to become the official jersey patch partner for its football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball teams.
In January, the governing cabinet of US college sports body, the NCAA, voted to approve the use of sponsorship patches in its Division 1 sports competitions, opening the door for increased commercialization in collegiate programs.
This new legislation, which will officially come into effect on August 1, allows prominent college sports programs to feature as many as two jersey patch sponsors on team uniforms, each measuring no more than four square inches, in regular-season non-NCAA championship games (for example, conference games).
A single additional logo will be permitted on team equipment during pre-season and regular-season competition, and one further patch on uniforms and apparel utilized in conference championship games.
