What if College Athletics Had Jersey Sponsors?

Lilly Donahue | Indiana University

Recently, the NBA announced that it would begin selling ads on jerseys to interested corporations, and some teams have already sold their space. For many fans of traditional uniforms, this is a unwelcome change, as none of the four major sports leagues in the US feature jersey ads. Personally, I hate seeing soccer teams’ jerseys that feature their sponsor’s logo more prominently than the team’s name itself. While I’m not a huge fan of seeing ads on NBA uniforms, I do understand it from a business standpoint. And that got me thinking: What if colligate athletic programs were to procure a sponsor for their uniforms?

Pros:

One could argue that the revenue from the ad sales could be used to help fund a player payment program that could be offered across all sports within a school’s athletic program. I think it could actually be an appealing idea, so long that the ads were kept small and didn’t interfere with any major uniform changes. This system could also benefit the universities themselves, as they could aim to create partnerships with companies that were founded or are currently run by that school’s alumni, which helps promote the success of the school itself.

Cons:

This idea would probably receive major pushback from fans of tradition, just as the NBA jersey ads did. Further, many companies have specific views on major political and social issues, and and scandals that stem from these views may cast a negative shadow on the university. But then again, many corporations that have controversial views already play a major role in college football through bowl sponsorship or uniform sponsorship. For example, Chick-fil-A leadership made controversial statements about same-sex marriage in 2012, but they are also sponsors of multiple kick-off and bowl games. This sets a precedent for schools to hold connections with controversial companies, but it could still cause issues for school depending on what the scandal entails.

See for Yourself

Now that you’ve heard the pros and cons of jersey sponsorship, you probably want to see what the end result could look like. I used my mediocre-at-best photoshop skills to put together some mockups for some college football and basketball teams. The sponsor on each jersey has either a founder or CEO who is an alumni of that specific school. Take a look:

Auburn University- Sponsor: Apple, Inc.- Alumni: Tim Cook, CEO