Made Possible Through a Multi-Year Collaboration Between DIRECTV and Learfield to Elevate the College Sports Fan Experience Nationwide.
DIRECTV today announced a multi-year, strategic and year-round collaboration with six university athletic departments ahead of the highly-anticipated 2025 college football season.
This agreement includes six of the most iconic schools in all of college sports — Duke University, The Ohio State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Oregon, United States Military Academy (Army), and The University of Texas — aiming to deliver tailored experiences for students, alumni and fans across the country. DIRECTV negotiated the multi-school agreement with Learfield, the media and technology company powering college athletics.
The alliance spans across multiple athletics programs, including football, both Men’s and Women’s basketball and other collegiate sports. DIRECTV will have enterprise-wide IP rights to use official school logos and marks, in-venue and TV-visible signage, and digital media opportunities to amplify DIRECTV messaging to millions of college sports fans, regardless of whether they are watching games in-venue, at home or on the go.
The highly anticipated Texas Football vs. Ohio State matchup on August 30 will mark DIRECTV’s first Fan Zone activation of the season, setting the tone for an unforgettable lineup of game-day experiences. Fans attending the event can look forward to interactive “Best Seat in the House” experiences and live pregame viewing powered by DIRECTV’s satellite-free streaming service. These Fan Zones bring the comfort of the living room into the heart of the action, creating an immersive environment for fans to catch every moment surrounded by the excitement of game day. Visitors can explore DIRECTV’s Genre Pack offerings like MySports, ensuring they can watch their favorite teams anytime, anywhere—without a satellite dish.
In addition, there will be community engagement initiatives aligned with the schools throughout the school year, as well as new social and influencer content available on DIRECTV, creator and school social channels.
“College sports unite fans like few things can, and collaborating with these six legendary programs allows DIRECTV to show up in meaningful, authentic ways,” said Kelly Jo Sands, senior vice president of digital marketing at DIRECTV. “From in-venue activations to social media content and NIL partnerships, we’re committed to delivering ‘Game Day, Your Way’ across every touchpoint, for both men’s and women’s teams alike.”
As part of DIRECTV’s commitment to authentic fan engagement, the sponsorship includes an NIL program featuring standout college athletes from the schools. These student athletes represent a wide variety of college sports and will play a key role in content creation, social amplification, and local market activations throughout the season.
DIRECTV will be activating across the six campuses throughout the academic year with an initial presence at marquee college football games, including:
- August 30: Texas at Ohio State
- September 20: Oregon State at Oregon
- October 4: Clemson at UNC
- October 18: Georgia Tech at Duke
- November 1: Penn State at Ohio State
- November 28: Texas A&M at Texas
Fans can expect a 360-degree integrated marketing campaign blending traditional and digital media, live experiences, influencer activities, and social amplification. From the stadium footprint to the living room and beyond, DIRECTV will bring college sports fans closer to the action than ever before.
“This agreement with DIRECTV showcases the advantage of leveraging the rights to school logos and student-athlete brand power to tap into fanbases and create authentic connections,” said Bill Hirsh, senior vice president of corporate sales at Learfield. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with DIRECTV throughout the upcoming college athletics season to deliver their products and offerings to fans all over the country.”
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