Michigan State's sponsorship is yet another advertisement for major college sports as a big business.
The Michigan State Spartans presented by Rocket Mortgage. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. In fact, it kind of goes the other direction and makes me gag.
Trust me, I understand sponsorships. I participate in plenty. And if you’d like this space to be brought to you by your company, please don't hesitate to reach out. However, it feels just a little bit different when the shameless plug comes not in the pros, but by a college team, as we all know the players won’t get a cut.
One would think a supposed institute of higher learning would better understand how this sounds away from the Breslin Center, where the presenting deal is in effect. Let’s be honest, there was no damn way I was gonna write all that on a bracket anyway. Though I suppose there could now be a double meaning when someone bets the house on Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
And I’m sure there could be positives from this for both students and athletes depending on how the undisclosed financial terms of the deal are used. But at present it certainly feels like a negative for the university’s name, image, and likability; given this is essentially an advertisement for major college sports as a big business, whose participants remain “amateurs."
So, I couldn’t let Michigan State be presented without comment. And I never again want to hear anyone try to sell me on the notion that college basketball is played for the love of the game.