Cal’s new logo-patch agreement with Dialpad does more than put a corporate mark on the uniforms. It also underscores how much Cal’s current leadership is tied to the school itself.
According to On3NIL, the deal is worth $16 million over five years, and it extends across Cal’s athletics department. Craig Walker, the CEO of Dialpad, said the arrangement reaches all 30 Cal Division I varsity sports and rugby, and he added that Dialpad also plans to support Cal club sports.
"I think it's worth repeating that the chancellor is an alumnus of Cal, the general manager is alumnus of Cal, the head coach is an alumnus of Cal, I'm an alumnus of Cal," said Dialad CEO Craig Walker. "Having that level of alignment is really unique. . . . These colors run deep for all four of us."
That alignment matters because the people steering Cal football now all have personal ties to the school. Head coach Tosh Lupoi played at Cal in the early 2000s during Jeff Tedford’s run that pushed the Bears into national prominence.
Football general manager Ron Rivera was an All-America linebacker at Cal in 1983. Chancellor Rich Lyons attended Cal as an undergraduate from 1978 to 1982 and has spoken openly about the importance of a winning football program.
Walker, meanwhile, attended Cal football games regularly as an undergraduate from 1983-1989 and later watched Jason Kidd lead college basketball while he was in Cal law school in the early 1990s.
That is a sharp contrast from the previous group in place at Cal, which included head coach Justin Wilcox, a University of Oregon graduate; athletic director Jim Knowlton, a West Point graduate; and chancellor Carol Christ, who earned her undergraduate degree from Rutgers and her Ph.D from Yale.
When a new NCAA rule this year opened the door for college programs to wear corporate-sponsored logo patches on uniforms, a friend of Walker’s who is a Cal booster connected him with Rivera to get the deal moving.
The patch is only part of the package. Dialpad’s name will also appear on the Memorial Stadium field, the Haas Pavilion floor, stadium suites and other programs.
Walker said the company sees the arrangement as a natural fit for the Bay Area, blending elite academics, local alumni and tech innovation. "In the heart of where the AI revolution is happening," Walker said.
Dialpad is an AI-powered communications platform, and Walker said the company has long offered support and coaching for clients. Now it is adding AI capabilities that can handle tasks on its own. He said that could eventually include ticketing and fan-service functions for Cal, such as buying tickets, changing tickets, purchasing a parking pass or checking seat locations through an AI agent.
"The thing we're doing with Berkeley is, we'll even get to the point of being able to buy tickets talking to an AI agent, change tickets, buy a parking pass, see where your seats are, do anything you can do by calling the athletic department and talking to a human, we want to try to make that all automated using our AI capabilities as well," said Walker, who notes the service would be particularly important to a person who needs that service at, say, 3 a.m.
Cal is not alone in pursuing this kind of sponsorship. Other schools with similar logo-patch deals include Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Illinois and others. ESPN reported that Ohio State’s JPMorganChase deal is worth nearly $17 million for all 36 sports, Notre Dame’s SoFi Technologies agreement is worth $18 million to $20 million over six years, Michigan State’s 10-year deal with MSU Federal Credit Union is estimated at $40 million, and Illinois’ Busey Bank deal is worth $30 million over five years, according to Front Office Sports.
The money is becoming more important as schools navigate revenue sharing. Colleges are allowed to pay athletes up to $21.3 million in 2026-27, and most major football and basketball programs are spending the full amount. Some reports, including one from On SI, suggest the real figure is closer to $50 million because of work-arounds some schools are using.
Cal is the only ACC school so far to land a logo-patch deal. Stanford announced a corporate sponsorship agreement with Fortinet on Friday, but that deal includes naming rights, signage and branding rather than a patch on athletes’ uniforms.
Walker said Dialpad has already done similar deals with pro teams, including the Sacramento Kings, Denver Broncos and San Diego Padres, so the concept is familiar to the company. He also said the sponsorship has value beyond the financial side because it gives Dialpad exposure and a strong public image.
"We have a great solution for ticketing and fan experience," he said.
For Walker, the hope is simple: a better Cal on the field and a better return for the sponsor. Football matters most in that equation, and Cal opens with a September 5 night game against UCLA in Berkeley that is expected to be close to a sellout.
"I have very high hopes for the Cal football team," Walker said.
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