When the nationally ranked University of Missouri Tigers football team takes the field Thursday for its season opener against Murray State, fans will notice something unusual on the field: sponsored logos.
A new rule change by the NCAA allows sponsorships directly on a football field playing surface, and Mizzou is one of the first schools to get in on the action by featuring Shelter Insurance’s logo on the 25-yard-line of Farraut Field. Shelter Insurance is based in Columbia, Missouri, home of Mizzou. Equipment Share, another Columbia-based company, will sponsor the other 25-yard-line logo.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel in June approved corporate advertisements on playing surfaces in June, giving universities another source of revenue. Companies are allowed to place advertisements in no more than three spots on a football field. The NCAA rule permits schools to sell logo sponsorships on a game-by-game basis or for an entire season. However, the Southeastern Conference only allows its member schools to sell sponsorships on a season-long basis.
Logo sponsorships are only permitted for regular season games.
Shelter Insurance, a mutual insurance company that operates in 15 states, said the on-field sponsorship symbolizes its commitment to protecting policyholders.
“We find sports marketing benefits Shelter and our Agents because the events attract great audiences,” Shelter President and CEO Rockne Corbin said in a statement to Mizzou Athletics. “It’s also an opportunity to support student-athletes through the partnership. We got our start as a company in Missouri and it’s still our largest state in terms of number of agents and the number of people we insure. We can help support a team Missourians love and thank them for choosing Shelter for their insurance needs.”
While Mizzou’s on-field sponsorship with Shelter is one of the first of its kind, it certainly won’t be the last.
College athletics departments and conferences are generating ideas of revenue streams, including selling off naming rights.
The Big 12 Conference has held preliminary discussions of selling the league’s naming rights to Allstate Insurance, according to a report by The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy. The naming rights deal could net the league $30 to $50 million annually, the report said.
As for what the league would be named, early leaders in the clubhouse include the “Big Allstate Conference” and the “Allstate 12 Conference.”
Topics Missouri
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