When the Bulldogs take the field this fall, their jerseys will carry something no HBCU football uniform has carried before: a corporate sponsor’s logo. Alabama A&M University Athletics announced a partnership Friday with Omni2Max Inc., making Alabama A&M the first HBCU to secure a corporate jersey-patch deal for its football program. The Omni2Max logo will appear on Bulldog football jerseys throughout the upcoming season.

“This is a historic moment for Alabama A&M University, our football program and HBCU athletics,” Alabama A&M Director of Athletics Dr. Paul A. Bryant said in the announcement. “We are proud to welcome Omni2Max as our inaugural football jersey-patch partner. This agreement reflects the innovative direction of our athletics department and the tremendous value of the Alabama A&M brand.”

A Brand-New Revenue Category

The timing is no accident. Jersey patches were not allowed in college sports until this year. The NCAA’s Division I Cabinet approved commercial logos on uniforms, equipment and apparel in January, with the change taking effect August 1, the day after Alabama A&M’s announcement. Under the new rules, schools can carry up to two commercial logos on uniforms and apparel during the regular season, with no patch larger than four square inches.

The biggest programs in the country moved fast. Ohio State reached a jersey-patch deal with Chase, reportedly worth up to $17 million, and Notre Dame signed a deal with SoFi, reportedly worth $18 million to $20 million per year. Those numbers are not the benchmark for the rest of Division I, but they show why athletic departments at every level are treating the jersey patch as a serious new revenue stream. Alabama A&M Athletics will receive $250,000 from Omni2Max this year.

For HBCU programs, which operate on a fraction of power-conference budgets, being early to this market matters. Alabama A&M got there first.

Who Is Omni2Max?

Omni2Max Inc. is a professional technical services firm headquartered in the San Diego area. The company provides information technology, cybersecurity, engineering, logistics, program management, and systems administration services to government and private-sector clients.

This is not a cold-call sponsorship. The relationship between the company and the university predates the deal: in October 2025, Omni2Max representatives visited Alabama A&M’s College of Engineering, Technology and Physical Sciences to explore collaboration on research, STEM education and workforce development. The jersey patch grew out of an academic-workforce relationship, not the other way around.

“This partnership extends beyond the placement of our logo on a football jersey,” Omni2Max President and CEO Dr. Allen F. Maxwell said. “It represents our investment in a distinguished institution, its student-athletes and the next generation of leaders.”

What It Means for the Bulldogs and the SWAC

Alabama A&M, the only Division I program in Huntsville, competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, where corporate revenue has become an increasingly important complement to conference distributions and game guarantees. A jersey-patch deal adds a category of sponsorship income that simply did not exist for any school a year ago, and Alabama A&M has planted the HBCU flag in it before anyone else.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The full announcement is available on the Alabama A&M Athletics website.