FARGO — Welcome to college athletics, 2026 edition, where quarterbacks in the big-boy leagues can make millions — legally, unlike the good old days of the Southwestern Conference — and schools can sell space on the bodies of their athletes for a seven-figure sum. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, pining for the more innocent days of Jeff Bentrim and Chad Stark slicing up the North Central Conference, we’ll offer you a quote uttered with great meaning in the movie, “The Irishman.”
It’s what it is.
Translation: You might not like it, but you can’t stop it, so you need to accept it.
Jimmy Hoffa, as played by Al Pacino, probably would have different feelings.
So as North Dakota State announced Monday, July 13, that it had forged a deal with Fargo-based Gate City Bank to sponsor a jersey patch on the uniforms of Bison athletes — value and length of contract undisclosed — it’s probably best to take a deep breath and touch grass if you’re made squeamish by the increased commercialization of college athletics. Bronko Nagurski and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are not coming back.
From the left, NDSU student athletes Kelton McCaslin, Mekhi Collins, Lauren Jansen, and Gabrielle Garrett unveil the new Gate City Bank jersey patch on the uniforms of Bison athletes at a press conference on Monday, July 13, 2026, at the Taylor Family Room in the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Besides, you can take comfort in the fact the Gate City patches as modeled by Bison football players Kelton McCaslin and Mekhi Collins and volleyball player Lauren Jansen and soccer player Gabrielle Garrett at a press conference were wholly unobtrusive (4 inches by 4 inches) and matched NDSU’s green and gold team colors.
To reference another Hollywood classic, this won’t be Ricky Bobby peddling Wonder Bread, Jack Hawk 9000 knives (available at Wal-Mart) and Laughing Clown Malt Liquor.
“One thing we heard from student-athletes across the country is they don’t want to look like NASCAR,” said NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen, who’s served on multiple NCAA committees and helped shape the organization’s jersey patch policy.
That’s the fear. In a college athletics world where the topics of money, money and money invade ADs dreams (nightmares?) every night, having football and basketball players logo-ed up like a “Talladega Nights” race car doesn’t seem far-fetched.
North Dakota State student athletes unveiled new uniforms featuring a Gate City Bank patch during a press conference held on Monday, July 13, 2026, in the Taylor Family Room of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Larsen made assurances that’s not where this is headed (for now). And, he says, fans are understanding of the earthquake-like changes on the landscape … which perhaps they weren’t a year or two ago.
“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from our fans — and our fans are, like I was, very traditionalist when it comes to NIL and some of these changes in college athletics that for decades was very much the same — I think what I’ve seen from our fans and our donors and folks in the community is that they’re starting to understand some of these changes are here to stay,” Larsen said. “So if we want NDSU athletics to continue to be competitive at a national level, compete for NCAA championships and NCAA tournaments, these are the types of things that we need to do and hopefully we’ll do them the right way.”
There’s also this: Everybody’s doing it, or at least will soon enough.
Especially in the FBS world of which the Bison are now a part of with their inclusion in the Mountain West Conference.
Gabrielle Garrett, a North Dakota State soccer player, is one of the NDSU student athletes who unveiled the new Gate City Bank patch that will be worn on the jerseys during a press conference on Monday, July 13, 2026, in the Taylor Family Room of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
According to a database compiled by Matt Brown of the Extra Points newsletter, NDSU becomes the 19th Division I school to nail a jersey patch deal. That includes 10 Group of Six programs and four from the Mountain West, including NDSU.
UNLV and medical company Acesso Biologics signed deal worth a reported $2.2 million per year over 5 years, Air Force and insurance giant USAA inked a 5-year deal worth $2 million per year while Wyoming and Tallgrass Energy agreed on a reported 5-year deal worth $900,000 a year.
A guess at NDSU’s deal with Gate City would be 5 years (that seems to be the popular number) and somewhere between $750,000 and $1 million a year, probably closer to the former than the latter.
Larsen wouldn’t specify for what, exactly, the money will be used. Some schools have said their jersey patch deals would go toward revenue sharing with athletes, but Larsen didn’t commit to that. Moving to FBS has more costs than NDSU football’s old home in FCS — things like increased coaching salaries, larger staff and increased travel costs in addition to needing more revenue sharing dollars to compete at recruiting and retention.
“This is new inventory and so as we’re looking to transition to FBS and what that costs, this is going to help that,” he said.
Larsen said after the press conference NDSU had a jersey patch dollar figure in mind when it was still in FCS, but once the Bison were invited to the Mountain West and given 10 nationally televised games the ask went up. The FBS move, while costing more, also opened the possibility of increased revenue. That’s been consistent.
He also said that while uniforms are currently limited by rule to two patches for the regular season (conference championship games, College Football Playoff games and bowl games will see an increase), the future might be different.
The revenue machine, after all, never stops eating.
For now, no NASCAR.
Down the road, it’s what it is.
Schools with announced jersey patch deals
(Source: “Extra Points” newsletter by Matt Brown)
North Dakota State (all sports), Gate City Bank, terms undisclosedArkansas (all sports), Tyson Foods, terms undisclosedLSU (all sports), Woodside Energy, terms undisclosedMemphis (all sports), FedEx, terms undisclosedNebraska Omaha (men’s hockey), Control Services, terms undisclosedNebraska Omaha (men’s basketball), MCL Construction, terms undisclosedNew Mexico State (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball), Inn of the Mountain Gods, $1.05 million total/3 yearsUNLV (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball), Acesso Biologics, $11 million total/5 yearsSouth Florida (football), Tampa General Hospital, terms undisclosedWisconsin (women’s basketball, volleyball, women’s hockey, softball), UW Health, terms undisclosedWisconsin (football, men’s basketball, men’s hockey), Culver’s, terms undisclosedWyoming (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball), Tallgrass Energy, $4.5 million total/5 yearsMarshall (all sports), Marshall Health Network, terms undisclosedAir Force (all sports), USAA, $10 million total/5 yearsGeorge Washington (all sports), Vanda Pharmaceuticals, terms undisclosedMichigan State (all sports), MSU Federal Credit Union, terms undisclosedStony Brook (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse, women’s volleyball), Bulovas Restorations, terms undisclosedArmy (all sports), USAA, terms undisclosedOklahoma State (all sports), Osage Nation, terms undisclosedWashington State (all sports), Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, $8.43 million total/5 years
Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.