Tennessee is putting a sponsorship patch on its football uniforms for the long haul, and the school says it will be a First Horizon Bank addition. On Tuesday, Tennessee announced the move, and ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the 10-year jersey patch agreement will bring in more than $120 million over the life of the deal.
The patch itself is designed to blend in rather than jump out. First Horizon’s usual blue-and-red look has been switched to orange and white so it fits the Volunteers’ uniforms cleanly. Tennessee also color-matched the patch to each jersey, avoiding the clashing setup that can make these additions feel like they were slapped on at the last second.
There is still one notable change in where everything sits on the uniform. The First Horizon patch is on the right shoulder, directly opposite the Adidas logo.
When Tennessee first introduced its Adidas uniforms, the SEC logo was on that right shoulder spot. Now the SEC logo has been moved to the middle of the collar, with First Horizon occupying the shoulder on its own.
That choice avoids the stacked-patch look that has become a turnoff in some uniform designs. Tennessee could have left the SEC logo where it was and layered the sponsorship on top of it, but instead went with a cleaner layout.
The tradeoff is that the SEC logo appears to have taken the place of the Power T that was previously in the center of the jersey collar. In the promotional images, there does not seem to be a Power T on the jersey itself.
Even so, Tennessee still has plenty of Power T branding elsewhere. The logo remains on the pants, on sleeve accessories, and on the side of the helmets. With the orange uniforms doing plenty of the visual work already, the missing collar mark is unlikely to be what anyone is staring at on Saturdays.
The bigger questions for Tennessee will be on the field, where the focus is on getting DeSean Bishop the ball more, seeing how well the receivers connect with Faizon Brandon, and improving against the run on defense. The collar patch is there. The game is what will matter.
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For Tennessee, Brown was the kind of figure whose influence spanned eras, serving as an assistant under three different head coaches and even stepping in briefly as interim head coach. His path also took him to the XFL, where he coached the Memphis Maniax, another stop in a career defined by adaptability and staying power. The Volunteers are mourning not just a former staff member, but a trailblazer who helped shape the game at multiple levels. [Read more 🡒]
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Tennessee Just Crossed A Uniform Line Fans Will Debate
Tennessees latest business move is a big one, and it goes well beyond the usual scoreboard talk. Tennessee Athletics has signed a 10-year jersey patch sponsorship deal with First Horizon Bank that reportedly tops $120 million, a pact that will put the banks name on football uniforms and across multiple Olympic sports while leaving mens and womens basketball out of the arrangement.
The patch is set to appear starting in the 2026 season, giving Vols fans plenty of time to get used to the idea of a sponsor sitting on the uniform. For a program that has long sold itself on tradition and pageantry, this is the kind of change that will invite debate as much as it does revenue, especially with the deal stretching a full decade and reaching so many corners of the athletic department. [Read more 🡒]