PepsiCo also will have its brand on the championship trophy at both the SWAC football championship and SWAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments—with more on-field/court branding and surrounding brand experiences during each event. SWAC football fans will get a hint of what that will look like at the Orange Blossom Classic, State Fair Classic, The Pepsi SWAC Classic Presented by GM, and Florida Classic—with PepsiCo touring its way through each and giving them the main event treatment.
“PepsiCo’s name is on everything that we’ve got,” McClelland said. “Even when the commissioner runs out and waves at the fans, I’m going to have a PepsiCo shirt on.”
For all the SWAC is offering, the returns of the new deal are similarly significant. McClelland noted that part of the funding from the PepsiCo sponsorship will go toward bringing in mental health professionals to help student athletes deal with the rigors of sports, education and daily life.
Another portion will directly fund scholarships “so 10 to 15 years from now” the student athletes speaking at SWAC media day “will be able to turn to Pepsi and say, ‘Because of you, I now have a wife, I now have a kid, I now have a good job.’” Meanwhile, Pepsi will continue its on-site mentorship and recruitment efforts among the 100,000 students spread among 12 SWAC schools.
“Part of the programming that we do is not just in terms of the sporting, but also in terms of looking on campus for candidates to come join us,” PepsiCo’s Montgomery said. “We’ve had over 200 students from the SWAC over the last couple of years who currently work for PepsiCo today, and we couldn’t be happier.”
‘No rivalry’
The SWAC expanded its ranks in 2021 by adding Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M. Last year, it signed a deal with the Byron Allen-led Allen Media Group’s HBCU GO that put its sporting events in 60% of U.S. television households and 70% of Black households.