Indiana offering sponsorships for playing surfaces at Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium

BLOOMINGTON — The playing surfaces at Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall could look a bit different in the near future.

On Thursday, the Indiana athletic department announced its offering field- and court-level sponsorships for the first time in the wake of a recent NCAA decision to allow additional types of corporate advertisements.

According to a release, Indiana athletics is seeking out brand partners to have their logo displayed at Memorial Stadium on each side of the field at the 25-yard line. The sponsorship opportunity at Assembly Hall will feature a single marketing partner's logo on each side of the court.

"These new opportunities are available immediately and will be the most visible brands associated with IU Athletics," the release states. "There will be only one partnership entered into for each of IU’s two most high-profile athletic facilities, and once sold, these two opportunities will not be available again for multiple years based on the nature of the potential multi-year agreements."

Indiana touted the viewership figures for each of the programs involved to highlight the reach of the sponsorship. The men's basketball team averaged more than 10 million television viewers for its home games over the last years year while football has averaged seven million and women's basketball has averaged more than a million.

The Hoosiers combined attendance in 2023-24 for men's and women's basketball was 472,132 fans, the highest combined attendance total in the country per the release.

Indiana athletic department reported overall revenue of $144.7 million for the 2023 fiscal year that included $24.5 million in ticket sales, $19.6 million in donor contributions and $47.8 million from media rights distributions. The department also reported a surplus $5.6 million, according to the financial report the school submitted to the NCAA.

The NCAA and top conferences have all agreed to settle a series of antitrust lawsuits that will usher in a revenue-sharing model with athletes for the 2025-26 academic year that will require schools from power conferences to distribute up to 22% of their average revenue from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. The figure is expected to be between $20-$22 million.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here .

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana offering sponsorships for playing surfaces at Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium