SoFi has a sports sponsorship portfolio that includes the NFL’s richest naming-rights deal, the NBA, the WNBA, golf and a number of prominent athletes. This week it signed a deal that CEO Anthony Noto said “brings something truly unique.”
SoFi will be the first jersey patch partner of Notre Dame athletics, with its logo featured prominently on the uniforms of 26 Fighting Irish varsity teams, including its storied football program. It’s part of a wider six-year deal, worth about $18-$20 million annually, under which the fintech firm will also provide financial education and career development for students.
The deal was announced on Tuesday, just hours after Ohio State unveiled a similar partnership, also with a major financial institution, JPMorgan Chase, that will pay OSU in the $15-$17 million range annually. They’re two data points in a much wider trend. A number of the schools that have already announced patch partners—a new allowance by the NCAA—have done so with either national or local banks.
“Financial services is ultimately a relationship and trust business, and college sports is an incredibly powerful way to reach a large, loyal audience,” Noto said in an email. He added that college students are at an “important stage” in their lives to establish their financial literacy.
