How corporate NCAA conference naming rights potentially affects the USC Trojans

Is the Big 12 conference on the verge of an "Allstate 12" rebrand? According to Pete Thamel, the Big 12 is negotiating a deal to potentially install the insurance company as the conference's title sponsor. Also, there are reports that Conference USA is exploring a similar agreement with Globe Life.

Welcome to the overly corporate era of college sports.

Last week, the NCAA passed legislation allowing college football programs to display corporate logos on fields. I did not consider the move significant because we're used to the corporate charade that is college football bowl season. Also, there is no shortage of corporate logos on college basketball courts during tournaments.

Corporate logos on fields and courts inside college athletic facilities with corporate naming conventions are now a reality. But is it too much to rebrand college athletic conferences with corporate titles? Maybe, but I don't know how much longer conferences exist in college athletics, especially football.

It feels like we're inching closer to college football breaking away from the NCAA to form an independent governing body. If that happens, I predict conferences will be dissolved and replaced with NFL-style divisions organized by geographic locations. Until then, we're stuck with conferences and college athletic facilities that are beginning to resemble NASCARs.

How corporate conference sponsorship potentially affects the USC Trojans.

Could the USC Trojans soon find themselves "Discover Big Ten" or "Marathon Petroleum Conference" members? Potentially.

A corporate sponsor in the Big Ten conference will result in significant financial gains for member schools like USC. However, corporate logos come with corporate sponsors, and conference logos appear on athletic uniforms. As such, the Trojans' football helmets and jerseys could prominently feature a corporate logo soon.

Just thinking about a "DirecTV Ten" or "B1G Presented by TIAA" patch on the cardinal and gold uniforms is gross.

Why college athletics is selling itself to big corporations.

The major college sports have partnered with big corporations for decades. However, the NCAA was always careful to (try and) keep big business away from a sport's aspects that are closest to players. That is changing because of the impact of the NCAA's name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy.

Student-athletes' ability to earn from NIL quickly became a pseudo-professional sports model of pay-for-play. Now, schools are exploring every possible method to generate revenues, enabling larger NIL commitments than their rivals. Also, schools like USC are always seeking profitability increases.

The Trojans have recently dedicated significant funds to attract high-profile coaches and upgrade athletic facilities on campus. Attracting the nation's best high school recruits and transfer portal players isn't cheap.

Schools like USC will continue finding new ways to earn and remain in the rankings of every aspect of college athletics. Thus, smaller programs are pressured to find more money as college football's rich get richer. Ultimately, the Big 12 and Conference USA selling their naming rights is a step in the direction of shrinking the fiscal gap somewhat.

The corporate sponsorship in college sports will get worse for those annoyed by the dynamic.