Ohio State just slapped a Chase Bank logo on its iconic jerseys for $15 million a year — proving that in college sports, tradition is for sale and the people who actually generate the revenue still can't pay rent.
The partnership with JPMorgan Chase, announced Tuesday, places a circular bank patch on the uniforms of all 36 Buckeyes varsity sports. Yahoo Sports reported the deal is worth more than $15 million annually, making it the most lucrative sponsorship since the NCAA changed its rules to permit on-uniform advertisements. Ohio State didn't have to do this. The Buckeyes generated a record $336 million in revenue during the 2025 fiscal year, shattering their own $280 million high-water mark. Nobody outside of Texas has more money in college athletics. This was a want, not a need.
CBS Sports framed the deal as a landmark blow to tradition — and they're right. Ohio State's scarlet and gray uniforms are part of college football lore: Eddie George runs, helmet stickers, November wars with Michigan. Now they're a vehicle for selling you a credit card. Athletic director Ross Bjork would likely push back, CBS Sports noted, pointing out that despite $336 million in revenue, the program only cleared $16 million in profit. He'd call it necessary. But Ohio State is one of the few programs capable of chasing a national title without turning its jersey into a billboard. They chose otherwise.
Follow the money. The cost to fund a premier college football team has exploded from roughly $10 million to $35-40 million in just a few years, driven by revenue sharing and NIL demands. CBS Sports called the spending growth "unsustainable." The Big 12's widely mocked $20 million Monster energy drink deal at least makes structural sense — that conference is scrambling to keep up with Big Ten money. Ohio State already has the money. What it doesn't have is a ceiling on what it'll sell.
Schools spent decades relying on unpaid athletes to subsidize lavish facilities and ballooning coaching salaries, as CBS Sports noted. Now that players are finally getting a cut, every new dollar is worth chasing — not to share, but to hoard. Chase gets its logo on one of the most visible uniforms in American sports. Ohio State gets $15 million a year it didn't need. The athletes get a scholarship that doesn't cover rent and whatever NIL deal they can scrape together on their own.
Ohio State could have been the holdout — the program rich enough to say some things aren't for sale, that for 60 minutes on Saturday a few traditions might still be untouchable. Instead, it showed every athletic department in the country that if the Buckeyes will sell the jersey, everyone will. The only question left is what they'll sell next.
