With March Madness officially underway, teams are subject to NCAA sponsorship rules they would otherwise not be. For most schools, this is at worst a minor inconvenience. But in the case of the Florida Gators women’s basketball team, it results in a hilarious conflict of interest.
Due to NCAA sponsorships, Florida has had to place an asterisk on Powerade bottles that actually contain Gatorade. pic.twitter.com/s41Anv0vM0
— Paul Schwedelson (@pschweds) March 17, 2016
The NCAA has a sponsorship partnership with Powerade, so any and all sideline drinks will be branded with the Powerade logo. Of course, for the teams that have separate deals with Gatorade like Florida, this presents a dilemma.
For most teams and fans, the replacement of a traditional sponsor usually goes off without a second glance. However, this is Florida we are talking about — as in the school that invented Gatorade. The Florida players will be taking swigs from Powerade-branded bottles, but you can bet they will be tasting Gatorade.
Unless #brands are your thing, this is a very minor, even trivial technicality, but it does serve as a reminder just how controlling the NCAA can be with regards to its sponsorship deals. If you do not have a deal with the NCAA, good luck getting airtime during the game — even if the arena the games are played in bears your name.
Enjoy today’s games, but let this be a reminder they are part of the NCAA’s billion-dollar cash grab, and those putting on the actual show are doing it for free.
