Eastern Michigan’s field branding deal is potentially the tip of the iceberg
The Eagles are pursuing a jersey sponsor — perhaps multiple — and AD Scott Wetherbee is open to getting creative with new branding and revenue opportunities.
Ypsilanti — Eastern Michigan announced on Monday a multiyear branding agreement with University Bank that will put the bank’s branding on the gray turf at Rynearson Stadium.
And the first-of-its-kind deal for the Eagles is likely just the start of growing efforts to generate more revenue via branding and marketing deals — like a jersey patch, for instance — in the modern monied age of college athletics.
“It's just trying to get creative, man,” EMU athletic director Scott Wetherbee said in a recent interview with Mitten Football.
While the financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, EMU will net a decent pay day from this deal to bring in needed revenue to fund competitive football and basketball rosters. It’s just part of what Wetherbee plans in regards to branding as he and his staff get creative and explore their options to open up revenue streams.
Those revenue streams are especially important in the new paradigm of college sports, where departments can directly pay athletes via revenue sharing, similarly to pro sports leagues. And while Eastern Michigan might not be playing in the same financial field as the biggest athletic departments, the Eagles still need to keep with the times to stay competitive.
“What's really tough for somebody like myself, who's a marketing branding person, and as you walk around here we're pretty clean, right?” Wetherbee said. “It's the block E, and we don't really deviate much from that. But I also think you need to be very strategic, and you need to be very smart, and you gotta be forward thinking at a place like Eastern. You can't just sit back and be, like, 'This is just the way we do it.'”
Andrew Graham
Andrew Graham
Wetherbee admitted that EMU was “behind” on revenue sharing during the 2025-26 seasons, the first year it was allowed. That was in part an intentional strategic slowdown, Wetherbee said, but also the reality that, at an athletic department that’s not generating self-sustaining revenue, he couldn’t just dip into university general funds to cover revenue sharing costs.
And that has been much of the impetus for getting the wheels turning on establishing more revenue streams where possible.
“The expectation from campus is that I'm not using general fund dollars and those things,” Wetherbee said. “So I've got to go out and fundraise.”
