NCAA expected to permit jersey sponsorship patches

As college athletics continues to become increasingly professionalized, it appears be a matter of not “if” but “when” the NCAA will allow schools to sell jersey sponsorship patches.

According to Ross Dellenger, “when” could come as early as next fall, with the Yahoo Sports senior college football insider reporting that the D1 commissioners recently received an update on the matter. According to Dellenger, the legislation is expected to be approved in time to take effect for the 2026 college football season.

That’s not to say, however, that the entire situation has been ironed out, with Dellenger noting that there are still disagreements over which governing bodies should set and enforce standards regarding jersey patches. He also reports that most stakeholders feel “strongly” about limiting the number of patches to prevent such uniforms from looking like NASCAR driver suits.

Regardless of the regulations that are put in place and who is tasked with upholding them, the inevitable addition of sponsorship patches to jerseys would mark a significant shift in college sports. In fact, most major professional sports leagues in the United States only began allowing jersey ads within the last decade, with the NFL still not permitting such sponsorships on its gameday uniforms.

But, between athletes being permitted to profit from their name, image, and likeness and the House v. NCAA settlement allowing programs to share revenue with their players, it was perhaps only a matter of time until uniforms became billboards for more than just their schools and manufacturers. As for the cost of such ads, Learfield President and CEO Cole Gahagan told Yahoo last December that the sponsorships could sell for anywhere between $500,000 and $12 million annually.