Colleges are going to have another way to start generating revenue during the 2025-26 athletic season.
The Division I Cabinet on Friday, Jan. 23, approved a proposal that will allow Division I sports programs to place additional commercial logos or patches on uniforms, equipment and apparel, beginning Aug. 1. This would be allowed for any non-NCAA championship competition, including the regular season.
‘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.’
All Division I programs will have permission to have up to two additional commercial logos on their uniforms and apparel, plus one additional commercial logo on equipment during the preseason and regular season. An additional logo is allowed on uniforms and apparel for conference championships.
The patches will be limited to a maximum of 4 square inches per logo. Restrictions on placement of the logos will be decided by committees for the postseason on how to handle the College Football Playoff, March Madness, the College World Series and other playoff tournaments.
The continued expectations remain that logos must be outside of the designated sections of uniforms, as necessary for officiating purposes.
In addition, the Cabinet also supported the NCAA’s efforts to explore possible policies for teams to wear commercial patches during the NCAA Championships, in collaboration with the NCAA corporate marketing and media rights partners.
Ohio State athletics director Ross Bjork talked to the Columbus Dispatch — part of the USA TODAY Network — on Jan. 12 about the Buckeyes’ potential interest in adding patches.
‘It’s a new frontier,’ Bjork said. ‘With all the changing landscape around college athletics, the need to drive revenue, the need to drive revenue back to the players, the athletes, especially in your marquee sports, it’s just evolved into this realm. That’s why you want to do it the right way with the right partner to make sure all that fits and it’s a clean and neat look.’
