Drexel's men's and women's basketball teams will take the court with a new logo on their jerseys: Steamfitters Local 420, a Philadelphia-area labor union, is now the program's first-ever jersey patch sponsor. Drexel Athletics and Learfield's Dragons Sports Properties announced the expanded partnership on Wednesday, putting the union's branding on both squads' uniforms for the next three seasons.
The announcement on drexeldragons.com describes the patch as an expansion of the school’s existing relationship with the union. Steamfitters Local 420 represents steamfitters, pipefitters and HVAC technicians across the Philadelphia region and serves Pennsylvania for gas pipeline distribution. Learfield says the union was established in 1903 and is dedicated to safe working conditions, fair wages and quality training for its members. Dragons Sports Properties, Learfield’s exclusive multimedia-rights holder for Drexel Athletics, handled the agreement for the university.
A Deal Years in the Making
Drexel Athletics director Maisha Kelly said the agreement’s framework dates to April and thanked the union for accommodating an evolving landscape, according to the Drexel release. She also expressed appreciation for the expanding partnership.
Brian Radle, general manager of Dragons Sports Properties, said the partnership will make Steamfitters Local 420 visible at every men’s and women’s basketball game. He also described the union as an asset and advocate for Drexel’s fans and community, according to the release.
Drexel Joins a Growing Local Trend
Saint Joseph’s was the first local example: it announced a jersey-patch deal with Main Line Health in July. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Hawks were the first Pennsylvania athletic program to publicly announce a jersey sponsorship for the upcoming academic year. The school fields 21 teams, though the newspaper said the patch will not appear on all of them. Drexel is the second Big 5 school to make such a deal, the Inquirer reported.
The Inquirer also reported that a Penn athletics spokesperson previously told the paper the Ivy League was actively prospecting the addition of a jersey patch sponsorship, though the conference has not made such a deal. The push toward on-jersey branding follows a January decision by the NCAA Division I Cabinet, which approved allowing programs to place additional commercial logos or patches on uniforms, equipment and apparel for non-championship competition, including the regular season. Under the NCAA's rules, Division I teams may use up to two additional commercial logos on uniforms and apparel beginning August 1, with each patch capped at a maximum of 4 square inches, according to the NCAA.
What NCAA rules allow
According to the NCAA, Division I teams may use up to two additional commercial logos on uniforms and apparel during the preseason and regular season, with each logo limited to 4 square inches; conference championships allow one additional logo. The authorization applies to competition outside NCAA championships, whose use of commercial logos remains under consideration.
Part of a Bigger Sponsorship Wave
Drexel's move fits into a broader surge of jersey-patch activity across college sports. Sports Business Journal describes on-uniform advertising as an emerging major revenue category, one that now draws in apparel providers, multimedia-rights operators, conferences and schools, as detailed by Sports Business Journal. The outlet also notes that deal terms are frequently kept private, and availability of patches can vary depending on the sport and whether a competition counts toward NCAA championship play — a pattern that echoes UConn's own recent announcement.
UConn Athletics revealed UConn Health as the jersey patch sponsor for its men's and women's basketball teams starting in the 2026-27 season. Similarly, LSU's multimillion-dollar jersey patch agreement with Woodside Energy came without publicly released financial terms, per Sports Business Journal's reporting.
Football Jersey-Patch Deals Ohio State has a jersey-patch deal covering all 36 of its teams, while Illinois and Wisconsin have also been associated with jersey-patch deals, according to the Morning Call. Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft had said in July that his program was seriously weighing a similar sponsor patch, explaining simply, “We have to find other avenues to generate more revenue.”
