Special Delivery: UPS Signs To Become NCAA Corporate Partner

By Michael Smith, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

The NCAA and its rights holder CBS Sports have added another corporate partner -- UPS -- to complete a flurry of sales activity in the months leading up to this week’s NCAA Tournament. UPS announced today that it has completed a four-year deal to be an official NCAA corporate partner in the logistics category. Kraft came in at the corporate partner level earlier this month, while Capital One has completed a deal to be an NCAA corporate champion, the NCAA’s highest level of sponsorship. Corporate partners typically pay in the high seven figures annually, while corporate champions pay in the low eight figures. These new deals give the NCAA three at the corporate champion level (AT&T, Coca-Cola, Capital One) and eight at the corporate partner level (UPS, Kraft, Enterprise, LG, Lowe’s, State Farm, The Hartford and Hershey’s). Because negotiations on the deal were just finalized, UPS has not completed its activation plans for this year’s men's basketball tournament, which begins Thursday and culminates with the Final Four in Indianapolis April 3-5. UPS spokesperson Mark Dickens said the plans might be somewhat muted this year with the timing, but they do plan on customer hospitality events throughout the tournament, while exploring other business-to-business opportunities. UPS will be a major advertiser during the tournament as well, but is not expected to be in the revamped fan interactive area called Bracket Town.