University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign athletics has agreed to a five-year, $30 million jersey patch deal with Busey Bank, one of the largest of its kind in college sports, according to Sports Business Journal. The agreement gives Busey Bank branding across several Illinois teams and marks the first jersey patch partnership in school history.
The patch will appear on uniforms for football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer, and men’s and women’s golf, per the report. The company’s logo also will be worn on apparel by Illinois coaches, including Bret Bielema and Brad Underwood, Sports Business Journal reported.
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Partnership expands longstanding ties
Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman told Sports Business Journal that Busey Bank was the school’s first and only target for the deal, the report confirmed. He added that the agreement brings several existing partnerships under one umbrella, including title sponsorship of the Illinois Athletics Fighting Illini radio network and events such as Busey Bank FamILLy Movie Night and Field Trip Day at Illini Women’s Basketball, per Sports Business Journal.
According to the report, the deal was brokered by Learfield, which has handled multiple jersey patch agreements around college athletics. Illinois becomes the third Big Ten school to announce such a deal, following Wisconsin and Michigan State, Sports Business Journal confirmed.
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The agreement comes as colleges across the country look for new revenue streams through jersey sponsorships. Ohio State also announced a separate $17M sponsorship patch deal with Chase Bank across its 36 sports, according to The New York Times’ Athletic, showing how quickly the practice is spreading in major college athletics. Per The Athletic’s report, the Ohio deal is not yet able to disclose public details.
While some fans are for Big Ten schools advocating for themselves through these deals, others are finding the jersey patch controversial. Sports Illustrated stated that the deal with Michigan State, which was the first school to announce a jersey patch, is “already aging poorly,” though the publication added that Michigan should have sought a deal similar to the one Illinois negotiated.
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