Ripple CEO’s Kansas Roots Lead To Landmark Five-Year XRP Athletics Partnership

• Ripple secured a five-year jersey-patch deal with the University of Kansas, placing its branding on all Kansas athletics uniforms and venues.
• The partnership was reportedly facilitated through Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse's ties to Kansas, where he studied as an undergraduate and served as student body president.
• Beyond jersey branding, Ripple will support financial and technology education programs, internships, and career opportunities for Kansas student-athletes.

Kansas is reportedly finalizing a five-year jersey-patch deal with Ripple (XRP) that will feature the XRP logo across all Kansas athletics uniforms.

The Sports Business Journal reported on Wednesday that the agreement was brokered by Learfield's KU arm, Jayhawk Sports Properties, and came together through Kansas Athletic Director Travis Goff's relationship with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, a Kansas graduate and Topeka native who served as KU's student body president during his undergraduate years. 

Garlinghouse eventually passed the discussion to his marketing team, where talks with the school and Learfield progressed, according to Sports Business Journal.

XRP’s price was down more than 5% over the past 24 hours amid a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency market. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around XRP shifted to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ levels while chatter stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

AD Says Deal ‘Transcends’ A Jersey Patch

"We felt better about something that would encompass all of our programs, and then something that would transcend just a jersey patch," Goff said. "It's one thing to put a logo on jerseys. It's a whole other opportunity to bring to life the story of what that business, that company, that entity represents and what they do in the marketplace."

The partnership will include branding across Kansas athletics venues, digital properties, and event signage in addition to the jersey patch. Ripple will also fund financial and technology education programs for KU athletes and work to place Kansas graduates in jobs and internships across the technology industry, according to the report.

Second Big 12 School To Ink Crypto-Adjacent Deal

Kansas becomes the second Big 12 school to unveil a jersey patch deal, following Oklahoma State's agreement with the Osage Nation last week. Learfield has brokered 13 of the 21 jersey patch deals announced nationwide, according to SBJ's College Jersey Patch Deal Directory.

The Kansas deal also landed a day after the Big 12 announced its own conference-wide jersey patch agreement with Monster Energy, a deal sources said is expected to pay member schools around $1 million annually while preserving schools' ability to sell their own separate jersey patches.

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