Illinois State University student-athletes will now be wearing sponsorship patches on their jerseys.
Redbird Athletics has announced a marketing agreement with the Illinois Farm Bureau, Country Financial, Prairie Farms, Growmark and IAA Credit Union.
The patches will debut at ISU's volleyball match vs. Valparaiso at 6 p.m. Friday at CEFCU Arena. The Redbird football team will sport them for their game Saturday at Hancock Stadium vs. Murray State.
ISU football coach Brock Spack said he expects his players will be excited to wear the logo patches.
“I feel like I’m a pro or a race car driver. I’ve got a Fortune 500 corporation that’s sitting there on my chest on my jersey,” Spack imagined them saying. “It feels like people care about us.”
Student-athletes weren’t told about the jersey patches in advance of Thursday’s media announcement at the Aaron Leetch Stadium Club.
“As president of Illinois State University, the alignment between our institution and these five outstanding Illinois-based organizations warms my heart,” university president Aondover Tarhule said in making the announcement.
The NCAA allowed ad space to be sold on uniforms earlier this year. Major colleges quickly took advantage of the added sponsorship opportunity, but FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] schools have been slower to forge those agreements. ISU is among the first 10 FCS schools to have jersey patches for all of its sports teams, said ISU Athletics Director Jeri Beggs.
Schools are using the additional sponsorship opportunities to help address rising costs, which includes direct payments to student-athletes. Student-athlete revenue sharing was made legal following a $2.8 billion class action settlement that opened the flood gates for athlete compensation.
Beggs did not disclose the terms of the exclusive agreement with the Illinois Farm Bureau, but said it's one of the biggest marketing contracts in ISU Athletics history. She said it provides a key revenue stream for its sports programs.
“We feed almost 400 student-athletes. We travel them. We pay for hotels and buses and planes. All of those things have gotten more expensive, so this just allows us to stay competitive,” she said.
Beggs, a former marketing professor, said the patches will help break through to audiences since many viewers skip commercials.
“They look at their phones, they fast forward. This is content, this is advertising that lives in the live content,” said Beggs, adding she hopes the NCAA will open up more avenues for sponsorships, as it did with allowing signage on football fields.
“It’s a recognition that we are all out there looking for funding sources,” she said.
In 2025, ISU named its football field in honor of former board of trustees member and alumnus Jay Bergman and his late wife, Lori.
Matt Wettersten, executive director of marketing and communications at Illinois Farm Bureau, called the agreement a natural fit, noting that four of the organizations are based in Bloomington-Normal.
“Our organizations have a long history of collaborating to serve our members, clients and customers, many of whom are also ISU alums, supporters and fans and we are excited to have our brands aligned as part of this sponsorship,” Wettersten said during Thursday’s news conference.
