DirecTV has come to an agreement with the University of Southern California. We discussed the likelihood of corporate sponsorship in the Los Angeles Coliseum on Trojans Wire back in May of this year. The DirecTV corporate name will be painted on the back line behind the two end zones. USC home games will provide more sponsorship labels on Coliseum turf. It’s simply a reflection of the need to raise more money for the maintenance and development of the football program, now in the Big Ten Conference. Traditionalists might not like it, but with NIL and other needs requiring attention from athletic programs across the country, USC and other schools have to sacrifice some aesthetics and tradition so that the revenue streams keep flowing and are actually able to grow over time.
It’s not as though USC or other schools are ever going back to an innocent time when the idea of corporate logos or names splashed across the field were unthinkable. To be fair, corporate sponsors were a part of bowl games in the 1980s and 1990s. Remember the USF&G Sugar Bowl? The Sunkist Fiesta Bowl? The Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic? Corporate names were on the field even then. Yes, this is a blow to college football tradition at USC, but if it means grabbing that five-star offensive tackle instead of seeing Oregon get that prospect, it’s worth it.
USC has agreed to a multiyear agreement with DirecTV that will include signage for the company along the end zone out-of-bounds lines.
The signage will debut when USC faces Utah State in its home opener on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/fFKGqs8dHD
— Ben Portnoy (@bportnoy15) September 5, 2024
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, Ducks Wire, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.
