DALLAS & DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 22, 2026--
Learfield, the leading media and technology company powering college athletics, and Visible, Verizon's all-digital wireless service, today announced a new college athletics partnership across USC, Oregon, Minnesota, and Rutgers designed to connect Visible with students, alumni, and fans through high-impact branding, digital content, and game-day experiences.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260921455922/en/
The agreement includes a collection of highly visible, centerpiece branding placements at some of the nation's most recognizable athletic venues, including one of the first-ever corporate helmet bumper sponsorships with University of Minnesota football, an on-court logo placement at Oregon men's basketball, and back-of-end-zone branding at both USC and Rutgers football.
"At Visible, we believe staying connected should be simple, especially around the moments and communities people care about most," said David Kim, President of Verizon Value. "College sports bring together some of the most passionate fans in the country, and through our partnerships with USC, Oregon, Minnesota, and Rutgers, we're excited to connect with those fans in authentic ways and show up where passion, community, and connection come together."
The partnership further expands Visible's presence in college athletics while creating meaningful opportunities to engage students, alumni, and fans through powerful game-day experiences and year-round brand storytelling. Together, these placements will give Visible prominent exposure across marquee collegiate athletic events while reinforcing the brand's commitment to delivering simple, reliable wireless service and staying connected to the communities it serves.
"College athletics delivers unmatched fan passion, making it an ideal platform for brands looking to build authentic connections," said Shawn Hegan, executive vice president of corporate partnerships at Learfield. "We're excited to help integrate the Visible brand with some of the most historic teams in college sports."
In addition to the marquee venue branding, Visible will have opportunities to engage fans through school-affiliated digital platforms, social media channels, and multimedia rights assets that extend the partnership beyond game day. The campaign is designed to leverage Learfield's integrated marketing capabilities to deliver a consistent brand presence across multiple touchpoints while connecting with students, alumni, and fans throughout the year.
About Learfield
Learfield is the leading media and technology company powering college athletics. Through its digital and physical platforms, Learfield owns and leverages a deep data set and relationships in the industry to drive revenue, growth, brand awareness, and fan engagement for brands, sports, and entertainment properties. With ties to over 1,200 collegiate institutions and over 12,000 local and national brand partners, Learfield’s presence in college sports and live events delivers influence and maximizes reach to target audiences. With solutions for a 365-day, 24/7 fan experience, Learfield enables schools and brands to connect with fans through licensed merchandise, game ticketing, donor identification for athletic programs, exclusive custom content, innovative revenue generation solutions, student-athlete marketing initiatives, and advanced digital platforms. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed Learfield Directors’ Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.
About Visible
Visible is Verizon’s digital-first wireless service, offering unlimited data, messages, minutes, and hotspot, powered by Verizon, 5G included. On a mission to dramatically change the wireless service experience, Visible has been named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list and has been named “Best Telecom Brand” in Adweek’s Challenger Brand Awards. Known for its commitment to giving back to the community it serves, Visible’s social impact platform, Connection Protection, offers three months of wireless service to eligible members at no cost to ensure those who get laid off won’t lose their wireless plan, too.
Visible is a division of Verizon and powered by Verizon’s award-winning networks. For more information, visit visible.com or search for our service in the App Store or the Play Store.
Learfield and Visible Team Up to Connect with College Sports Fans Across USC, Oregon, Minnesota and Rutgers
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is pleading for “a world built on interdependence” as he makes his final address to the General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
The U.N. leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great-powers competition. Tuesday’s message took on additional urgency because he leaves office at the end of this year.
“The fault lines in our world are widening,” he said, citing geopolitical divides, wars, climate change and artificial intelligence. But instead of letting the future continue to veer toward fragmentation, transactionalism and mistrust, he called for “a world built on interdependence – and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
With wars raging,temperatures rising and artificial intelligence encroaching, leaders from across the planet converge at the United Nations on Tuesday to address each other and the world, airing their hopes, plans and grievances as the world body’s chief addresses them for the final time.
The annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly will be consumed with wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine,Sudan, Congo and Myanmar and a persisting question: Can the leaders do anything to end them?
And what can they do about the relentless rise of global warming threatening the future of the planet, the growing inequalities within and among nations, and shocks to the global economy as blocked shipping routes and supply chains increase the cost of living and slow growth?
The future of the United Nations will also definitely be on the agenda. At 81, its powers are still the victorious nations from World War II, not the 21st century’s major global players. The U.N.’s 193 member nations have agreed to a wide-ranging reform package that includes updating key institutions such as the powerful U.N. Security Council, where the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France hold inordinate sway because of their veto power. Reform, however, is easier said than implemented.
Behind the scenes, there will be speculation about who will lead the United Nations next. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ second five-year term ends Dec. 31 and no clear successor has emerged.
There is still no question that the U.N. remains the key gathering place for its 193 member nations and their leaders. Some 130 heads of state and government are expected to speak at the General Assembly starting Tuesday along with dozens of ministers.
Among the headliners: U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emanuel Macron. Both will speak Tuesday after Guterres’ opening “state of the world” address. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian speak Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whom New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani wanted arrested for his treatment of Palestinians in Gaza until he learned he has no such authority — will address the assembly on Thursday. For a second year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won’t be coming to the U.N. because the U.S. has refused to give him a visa. He will nonetheless address the assembly by video the same day.
The United States, under its agreement with the U.N. to host the organization, is required to allow diplomats from all member nations to attend meetings.
Equally telling is who else isn’t coming. China’s President Xi Jinping is meeting Trump in Washington on Wednesday, yet he is skipping — some diplomats say snubbing — the U.N. gathering and sending a vice president instead. Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t coming either, and Indian President Narendra Modi has backed out.
France's U.N. ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, said it is “extremely critical” for world leaders this week to support the U.N. as the place where the world’s nations meet — especially at a time of such polarization.
“We believe in multilateralism," he said, "and we believe that the high-level week is the occasion for countries in the world to reaffirm that they prefer cooperation and dialogue to confrontation.”
There is no doubt it’s been a tough year for the world body. It has been pushed to the sidelines when it comes to its key responsibility of ensuring international peace and security and trying to end major conflicts in the Mideast and Ukraine. The U.S. failure to pay billions of dollars in outstanding arrears has left the organization’s finances in rocky shape.
Former U.N. deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch-Brown, a United Nations Foundation board member, said, “While the world still trusts the U.N., the global public is eager for change."
The future of artificial intelligence has pushed to the forefront of global concerns, with its speeding advances and the dawning recognition that there are no industry controls, let alone any global guardrails for a technology that has many advantages but also many disadvantages and unknowns.
Days before the global gathering, leaders of three major AI companies warned about the technology getting out of human control and called for a pause, but Trump dismissed their concerns as “a hoax,” and urged continued advances to keep the U.S. ahead of China.
The U.N. Security Council added a high-level meeting on AI to its agenda on Wednesday afternoon, a sign of the growing apprehension and need to address the issue. It was already slated to hold a high-level meeting on Ukraine with Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning.
For the U.N. chief, this will be his last assembly meeting with global leaders. He previewed his speech last week, telling U.N. reporters that power is shifting in “an era of deep uncertainty."
“At a time when the world faces three existential threats," he said, “international cooperation is more necessary than ever.”
Edith M. Lederer has covered international affairs for The Associated Press for more than a half century.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the Partnership for Multilateralism Summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
The flag of the United Nations flies during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
People pose as they arrive for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/David R Martin)
