NCAA approves rule change to allow commercial sponsorship patches on uniforms, equipment and apparel

The NCAA will allow schools to add commercial logos from sponsorships on uniforms, equipment and apparel beginning Aug. 1. 

The Division I Cabinet approved the measure on Friday, which will allow schools to add up to two sponsorship logos (up to four inches in size) to uniforms and apparel, with one additional logo on equipment for preseason and regular season games. 

"College sports are in an exciting new era of increased financial benefits for student-athletes, and the Cabinet's vote today reflects the ongoing commitment of Division I members to drive additional revenues and fully fund those benefits," said Josh Whitman, athletic director at Illinois and chair of the DI Cabinet. "This also continues the NCAA's efforts to expand flexibility in areas of NCAA rules, thereby allowing schools and conferences to set standards that reflect their values and serve their unique needs. This important policy change is another step forward in advancing that philosophy and providing members with increased flexibility."

Official NCAA championship competitions will not allow the sponsorship logos at this time, so if a team makes the NCAA Tournament in basketball, it have to remove sponsor patches from its uniforms. However, possible policies for teams to wear commercial patches during NCAA championships will be "explored ... in collaboration with NCAA corporate marketing and media rights partners." 

That does not apply to the College Football Playoff because it is not an official NCAA championship. As a result, college football teams will be allowed to wear patches in their postseason -- which figures to add serious value for top programs. 

With revenue sharing in effect with athletes, selling logo patches on uniforms will be the latest avenue for schools to increase cash flow across sports. Sponsor patches aren't new to the sports world, and in recent years we've seen more and more professional sports adding them to uniforms and equipment. Now those same revenue-driving opportunities are coming to college sports, and schools have the next six months to get sponsorship deals in place before Aug. 1. Where in the professional sports world we typically see sponsorship deals with major brands, at the college level we figure to see a wide variety of uniform patches from everything from local businesses to multinational corporations.