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Ole Miss

With $20.5M to raise, Ole Miss joins race for field, court branding deals

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett07/01/25SpiritBen
OLE MISS GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Ole Miss vs. Georgia Southern Eagles at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. on Saturday, September 21, 2024. (©Bruce Newman)

The NCAA prior to last season approved corporate logos on playing surfaces.

Ole Miss continues its search for the ‘right fit,’ according to Keith Carter, Ole Miss vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics.

Some of the Rebels’ SEC contemporaries have already reached agreements. Ole Miss football kicks off the 2025-26 season on August 30 against Georgia State.

“We don’t want to become like NASCAR,” Carter said in a one-on-one sit-down with the Ole Miss Spirit last week. “I don’t mean that in a bad way towards NASCAR; they obviously have a great product. But we don’t want logos just kind of posted everywhere. We’ve got to find the right fit. 

“But revenue is king these days. We’re certainly looking hard for a corporate sponsor to put their name on the field, on the basketball court, those type of things. We can do that across, really, all of our venues. That’s a big revenue opportunity as we move forward.”

Corporate branding is one of the many new, complicated layers to the new rev-share era in college athletics, which officially begins this week. 

The start date is July 1 following California judge Claudia Wilkin’s approval of the NCAA v. House settlement on June 6.

Ole Miss and the rest of the SEC will start doling out $20.5 million to its student-athletes.

Arkansas, for example, long ago reached agreements with Tyson Foods and Walmart as corporate sponsors to be represented on playing surfaces. Ole Miss is a Nike school and requires permission to use other logos. 

“The jersey patches haven’t been approved yet, but at some point that’s going to happen,” Carter said. “What partner is appropriate for that as we put patches on football jerseys, basketball jerseys, baseball jerseys, those type of things? We’ve got to come up with this $20.5 million for rev-share and we’re trying to find ways to do that.”

The latest NCAA Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2023 showed Ole Miss ranked No. 13 in the 16-team SEC in total revenue and $47.7 million below the league average. Based on current figures the Rebels are $180 million behind league leader Texas in revenue ($331.9 million).

Ole Miss has already made changes to parking and tailgating to generate new revenue streams. Additionally, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium now regularly hosts concerts, such as Morgan Wallen. New game-day amenities are being discussed as well.

Season tickets for football increased by $25 to account for the addition of an eighth home game this season.

“We don’t just sit in here looking for ways to gouge our fans,” Carter previously told the Ole Miss Spirit. “We don’t want to do that. But we do believe that the world has changed and we are expected to put a good roster out on the football field. In this day and time that does take money. Because we have to go out and build a roster through rev share, NIL and those types of things.

“So we try to find the right balance of how much do we ask of our fans? How much do we try to take on internally? Then how much can we give back to the fans with that experience we hope they enjoy?”

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