The University of Wyoming athletics department has announced the largest corporate investment in program history — a five-year, multimillion-dollar jersey patch partnership with Tallgrass, a Colorado-based energy infrastructure company that operates thousands of miles of pipelines across Wyoming.
The deal, facilitated by Learfield's Wyoming Sports Properties, places the Tallgrass logo on football, men's basketball and women's basketball jerseys and makes the company the presenting sponsor of the Wyoming Kids Club, according to a UW statement cited by Cowboy State Daily.
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"This is the largest corporate investment in Wyoming athletics history," Rob DeSoto, general manager of Wyoming Sports Properties, told Cowboy State Daily. "Over the five-year window, it's over $4 million invested to Wyoming athletics."
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DeSoto said the partnership reflects a shift in how corporate sponsors approach college sports in the revenue-sharing era, according to Cowboys State Daily's David Madison.
"This partnership is really geared around Tallgrass kind of coming to the table and saying, 'Hey, we already do a ton of business in Wyoming. We want to tell our story, but we want to support the student athletes,'" DeSoto said, who described the deal as "forward facing" about the revenue-sharing era.
Director of athletics Tom Burman said in a statement the commitment "will have an immediate impact on our ability to recruit and retain our best and brightest."
According to Madison, Wyoming has generated roughly $2 million in football revenue-sharing against competitors spending $5 million or more.
