Schools use field logos, higher concession prices and more to pay for the new era in college sports

It was an exercise in corporate branding that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in most pro sports. In college sports, it bordered on revolutionary.

In a full room of reporters, boosters and executives, the University of South Carolina delivered the news that it was bringing on a new sponsor that would put its logo on the football field for Gamecocks home games, starting Sept. 6 against South Carolina State.

The deal with a machinery company was the centerpiece of a partnership that, Gamecocks athletic director Jeremiah Donati explained, represented the “largest single financial investment into our athletics department in our history, which will help us shape the future of our programs and our university for years to come.”

In a nod to the new realities of college sports, the NCAA just 14 months ago lifted a decades-old restriction on branding on the field of play. On Monday, Texas became the latest to announce it was putting a corporate logo on the field in a new deal with a health company.

It opened a new financing stream for universities that are sharing up to $20.5 million in revenue with their players over the next year while also doling out millions more in scholarships in an industry reshaped by the multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement that has turned college sports into something that looks more like the pros.

Not everyone is seeing money walk through the door.

Just last week, the board Virginia Tech received a bracing message from athletic director Whit Babcock: Without an influx of around $44 million to bring the sports budget to $200 million, the Hokies would keep falling behind.

“If we don’t radically leap forward now,” Babcock said, “we’re likely sealing our own fate for years and generations to come.”

Field branding is part of a bigger set of tools that schools are using to try to stay competitive; often those tools involve asking students, fans and the public to pay more.

“As the financial requirements in college athletics continue to evolve and grow, the pressure on athletic departments, our multimedia partners and others to provide new and different revenue streams is certainly there,” said J Batt, the athletic director at Michigan State, which has partnered with Playfly Sports to identify new ways to raise money.

These have been couched in lots of different ways, but bottom line, it's going to cost more to attend games at many schools.

Tennessee was among the first to introduce what it called a “talent fee,” which was a 10% surcharge on all athletic tickets.

Multiple Big Ten teams have increased student season ticket prices for football. Arkansas added a 3% “Student-Athlete Scholarship Enhancement Fee” to concessions sold at its sports events in what athletic director Hunter Yurachek told fans in a letter was a “small but meaningful way” to support athletes.

Nebraska, for the first time, will be selling beer to fans in general seating.

Among the schools that added “athletic fees” to the cost of attendance are Clemson ($300 a year), South Carolina ($300), Louisville ($200) and West Virginia ($250). At Clemson, that fee is expected to raise around $7 million a year.

One possible hiccup: A bill making its way through Congress proposes to bar schools from using these sort of fees to bankroll college athletic programs.

A 2023 analysis by Sportico estimated the “per student” level at which most schools subsidized their athletic departments through a mix of fees, direct and indirect financial support, government funding and other sources. At Power Four schools, it ranged from nothing to $1,400 per student. The numbers figure to trend upward.

Earlier this year, Texas Tech said it was earmarking an additional $9 million to support its athletic program, which has a budget of around $129 million and is also backed by its billionaire board of regents chair, Cody Campbell.

At Missouri, administrators covered a $15.2 million deficit in the athletics budget with an “internal loan,” and also increased financial support for fiscal 2024 by $2.9 million to $25.7 million.

Kentucky's board of trustees recently approved a plan to lend the athletic department $141 million — $110 million of which will go to fund facility projects and the rest going to offset expected deficits in 2025 and 2026.

Michigan State floated a $12.1 million “internal loan” to the athletic department, with the expectation it will be repaid through increased revenue coming out of this new era in college sports.

Batt said Michigan State has signed a new concession deal with an outside provider, completed new, bigger scoreboards in the football stadium and is refurbishing its luxury boxes, all with an eye on generating more income.

“Finding those opportunities but staying true to the brand is part of those ‘win-wins’ that we're looking for,” Batt said.

Aside from tying increased giving to ticket prices, athletic directors are being transparent with their fans and simply letting them know that things are going to cost more.

In a letter to the Michigan fan base from June, athletic director Warde Manuel said payments to players and an increase in scholarship budget had the department facing a $27 million deficit for the 2025-26 school year.

He gave a detailed analysis of measures Michigan has taken to cut the deficit to $15 million. It included staff reductions and a $6 million reduction in TV revenues the department gave back to the university. But the letter came with the overarching message: “We still need your continued support.”

At some schools, the support will come in the form of unique “experiences.” At Oklahoma, two fans can sit in on the postgame news conference for the price of somewhere between $500 and $700.

At Kansas, they might not have to get so creative.

Last week, billionaire alum David Booth gave $300 million — believed to be the largest donation in college history — to be targeted toward construction around the football stadium and to generate income that athletic director Travis Goff said could last for decades.

Could it turn a school known for one the nation's best basketball programs into a behemoth on the football field, as well?

“Philanthropy, like investing, pays dividends over time,” Booth said.

This story corrects that South Carolina's opening home game is Sept. 6, not next Sunday.

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FILE - Jeremiah Donati, the new South Carolina director of athletics, speaks before an NCAA college basketball game between South Carolina and Duke in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)

FILE - Kansas fans fill David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium for the third straight time for an NCAA college football game against TCU, Oct. 8, 2022, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann, file)

FILE - Tennessee fans gather outside Neyland Stadium before an NCAA college football game between Tennessee and Kent State in Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

FILE - Fans watch a drone show displaying the CFP logo above Ohio Stadium during the second half in the first round of the College Football Playoff between Ohio State and Tennessee, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio's capital city said Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to link a man charged in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home last month to the killings.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in an Associated Press interview that authorities now believe Michael David McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, was the person seen walking down a dark alley near Monique and Spencer Tepe's home in video footage from the night of the murders. His vehicle has also been identified traveling near the house, and a firearm found in his Illinois residence also traced to evidence at the scene, she said.

An attorney representing McKee could not be identified through court listings.

His arrest Saturday capped off nearly two weeks of speculation surrounding the mysterious killings that attracted national attention. No obvious signs of forced entry were found at the Tepes’ home. Police also said no weapon was found there, and murder-suicide was not suspected. Further, nothing was stolen, and the couple’s two young children and their dog were left unharmed in the home.

“What we can tell you is that we have evidence linking the vehicle that he was driving to the crime scene. We also have evidence of him coming and going in that particular vehicle,” Bryant told the AP. “What I can also share with you is that there were multiple firearms taken from the property of McKee, and one of those firearms did match preliminarily from a NIBIN (ballistic) hit back to this actual homicide.”

Bryant said that the department wants the public to keep the tips coming. Investigators were able to follow up on every phone call, email and private tip shared from the community to the department and some of that information allowed them to gather enough evidence to make an arrest, she said.

That work culminated in the apprehension of McKee in Rockford, Illinois, where the hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He has been charged with premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths. Monique Tepe, who divorced McKee in 2017, was 39. Her husband, a dentist whose absence from work that morning prompted the first call to police, was 37.

McKee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Monday during an appearance in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County, Illinois, where he remains in jail. Bryant said officials are working out details of his return to Ohio, with no exact arrival date set. His next hearing in Winnebago County is scheduled for Jan. 23.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Wednesday that the city doesn't prioritize high-profile cases any more than others, noting that the city's closure rate on criminal cases exceeds the national average. The city also celebrated in 2025 its lowest level of homicides and violent crime since 2007, Ginther said.

“Every case matters. Ones that receive national attention, and those that don’t,” he told the AP. “Every family deserves closure and for folks to be held accountable, and the rest of the community deserves to be safe when dangerous people are taken off the street.”

Ginther said it is vital for central Ohioans to continue to grieve with the Tepes' family, which includes two young children, and loved ones, as they cope with “such an unimaginable loss.”

“I want our community to wrap our arms around this family and these children for years to come,” he said.

This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Spencer and Monique Tepe's home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

This image taken from video shows Michael David McKee walking into the courtroom on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Rockford, Ill. (WIFR News/Pool Photo via AP)