The University of Southern California and its rights holder, Fox Sports, have developed a sponsorship platform that will drive revenue and added visibility to the school’s women’s athletic programs.
Two sponsors, both based in Los Angeles, have already signed on — Merle Norman and OPI. Merle Norman is a cosmetics brand, while OPI makes nail lacquer.
“These are companies that were [founded] by women and they want to give back to help foster the next generation of female leaders,” said Donna Heinel, senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator at USC.
Heinel has worked with Fox’s Dan Shell, who manages the USC property, to establish Women of Troy as an overarching platform for sponsorship of women’s athletics.
In addition to the typical assets that are included in a USC sponsorship, such as signage and advertising across the school’s digital and radio
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OPI created two new nail polish colors for the program.
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broadcasts, the two companies will work with the female athletes on leadership initiatives and internships.
A portion of the proceeds from the sponsorships will help fund women’s athletics. How that money is directed will be determined as it becomes available, Heinel said.
Financial specifics of the two sponsorships were not available, but deals like this typically would sell in the mid-to-high five figures.
Fox is calling these two clients presenting sponsors of the Women of Troy. Shell and Heinel would like to see the list of presenting sponsors grow to five.
“Doing more for women’s athletics has been a strong emphasis for both USC and Fox,” Shell said.
OPI has already worked with USC’s female athletes to create two new nail polish colors — “Trojan Fever” and “We pLAy for the Gold.”
The cardinal and gold colors are available at the USC bookstore and online at shop.usctrojans.com.
