LSU has plan to sell jersey patch advertisements, pending NCAA approval

In the ever-changing world of NIL and the transfer portal, schools are looking for every potential edge to generate a little bit more. LSU is apparently looking into whether it can sell jersey patch advertisements to generate some extra revenue.

The news comes courtesy of a report from The Advocate, which notes that LSU “hopes the NCAA will allow schools to sell patches on their jerseys.” In the event the governing body clears it, the Tigers project they can generate “multiple millions of dollars a year” doing so.

The Advocate writes: “LSU has mapped out where the patches would go on every jersey, from cross country to football. Most of them would appear on the chest in purple and gold.” Meanwhile, a program official said the school doesn’t want to have “some crazy, NASCAR-like situation,” meaning the advertisements are likely to be fairly self-contained.

The news out of LSU comes during a period when rules are rapidly changing across the board in college sports. And other moves have been made to allow programs to monetize better.

Just last year, the NCAA paved the way for schools to have advertisements on the field. Many programs did so.

And the talk of adding jersey patches has been ongoing for at least the last year. Athletics directors and conference officials have pointed to it as a potential additional revenue stream.

“I believe the NCAA is going to allow us to put a sponsor logo on the field during the regular season,” Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin said just before the NCAA approved sponsorship logos on the field. “That’s an obvious revenue stream that has not been there in the past. The pro sports are putting patches on jerseys. That doesn’t seem like something that’s crazy for us to consider these days.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also chimed in on jersey patch advertisements. A year ago, he said the following:

“We’ve had jersey patches in bowl games,” he said. “I would anticipate there’s going to be a continuing push (for new revenues), and we’re going to have to come to some agreement in this new environment on where those limits exist.”