Valley City High Adds Sponsorship Patch to Jerseys
Multiple college football programs have recently announced sponsorship deals with large corporations, and there will definitely be more to come. A couple high profile programs that announced deals include Notre Dame and Ohio State. Notre Dame announced a sponsorship deal with SoFi reportedly worth $18-20 million per year; Ohio State announced a deal with JP Morgan Chase worth $17 million per year. This has been happening in pro sports across the globe for years, but it’s just now starting in college football. Well, it has now trickled down to high school football in The Valley.
Every high school sports team is looking for additional ways to raise funds; it’s a never-ending process. Valley City High School football has decided to copy the college football programs with the jersey patch. They have inked a deal with Trudy’s Trendy Boutique reportedly worth 4 figures, but the actual amount will not be made public.
Valley City Head Coach Jeff Fedora said, “We’re excited about our deal with Trudy’s. Trudy’s has been a sponsor for our program for 5 years now, and we’re excited to continue that partnership. We put this out to the highest bidder, and they stepped up big for us. Their sponsorship will allow us to buy some much needed equipment for our program. We’re very grateful for Trudy’s.”
While all the details of the sponsorship haven’t been made public, we do know some of the details. Trudy’s will have their logo on the team’s jerseys. They’ll have a small logo on both 25 yard lines. Also, they will setup a pop-up shop at all home games to sell their merchandise. Additionally, they will do fun giveaways at halftime of home games. They will also have signs setup on the fence along the field as well.
While it seems Coach Fedora and the administration is happy with the sponsorship deal, many Valley City supporters are not. A player’s father said, “Football is peak masculinity. It is absolute war out there. Man on man, mano y mano. It’s like modern day gladiators fighting in a Roman forum. This is a slap in the face to our boys to have to wear the patch of a lady’s boutique on their jerseys. Look, my wife and daughter spend a ton of money in there, and we love Trudy. But, this is so embarrassing and demoralizing to our team. I’m gonna plead with Coach Fedora to reopen the bids, and I’m gonna pray another company outbids Trudy’s.”
An anonymous football player said, “This is just downright embarrassing. I understand we need more money, and I understand Trudy’s was the highest bidder. But, I just can’t. That patch is gonna somehow come off my jersey before I walk out the locker room. I just can’t do it. I may get into trouble, but I don’t care. Everyone loves Mrs. Trudy, but dang! Come on man!”
With Valley City High announcing this deal with Trudy’s, I feel confident there will be more to come. Many don’t like the commercialization of high school sports, but I’m afraid that ship is about to sail.
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