Take a look: Gamecocks add on-field sponsor logos at Williams-Brice Stadium
South Carolina has engaged in a lucrative partnership with Blanchard CAT that will bring a visible change to the field at Williams-Brice Stadium.
As part of a five-year agreement, logos for Blanchard CAT and Blanchard CAT Rentals will now be featured on the Gamecocks’ home field starting with the 2025 football season.
Blanchard Machinery, which includes Blanchard CAT and Blanchard CAT rentals, is headquartered in West Columbia and run by President and CEO Boyd Blanchard as well as Executive Vice President Rozier Blanchard — both of whom are graduates of South Carolina.
South Carolina’s massive Block C logo will still sit at midfield, and SEC logos will remain at the 25-yard line in opposite corners. And beginning with the Gamecocks’ home opener against S.C. State on Sept. 6, two Blanchard logos will appear on the turf, on the 25-yard line opposite the conference marks.
Those Blanchard logos will replace the state flag emblems that were most recently on the field at the 25s, though the flags could still appear elsewhere.
Though South Carolina did not immediately disclose the monetary value of the Blanchard agreement, USC athletic director Jeremiah Donati called it the “largest individual investment into our athletics program.” Such deals for field sponsorships are estimated to be worth around $4 million annually, according to estimates obtained by USA Today.
The deal, Gamecock Club CEO Wayne Hiott told The State, will include a number of additional marketing assets — things like signage, radio reads, public address reads, title sponsorship of the home-opener against South Carolina State.
Along with that, Hiott said, “as our stadium project continues … (we’ll lean into) Blanchard CAT helping us actually do work around the stadium. So there will be some marketing assets associated with the stadium project as well that Blanchard can take advantage of.”
South Carolina will begin $350 million in stadium renovations at the conclusion of the 2025 season. The school, in a press release announcing the Blanchard partnership, said the “transformative collaboration will benefit Gamecock Athletics for years to come and specifically impact Williams-Brice Stadium enhancements.”
What the partnership does not include: any naming rights. The Williams-Brice name isn’t going anywhere. This is not going to be a case of it being known as Blanchard Field. It’s simply two logos on the field.
“This is simply branding the field,” Nick Kistler, the general manager of Gamecock Sports Properties, told The State. “It is not naming (the field.) That’s a big distinction.”
South Carolina becomes the fourth SEC football program with brand logos featured on their fields, joining Tennessee (Pilot), Arkansas (Tyson Foods and Walmart) and Missouri (Feature Shelter Insurance and EquipmentShare).
What’s notable about South Carolina’s deal with Blanchard Machinery is that it’s only a five-year deal. For reference, Tennessee’s partnership with Pilot is a 20-year partnership. By crafting a short-term deal, the Gamecocks give themselves flexibility to adjust its price depending on what the field-logo market looks like in five years.
“You don’t wanna be locked into something too long term when you haven’t ever had it before,” Kistler said.
The ability for college programs to place sponsor logos on their playing surface was only approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel last June. In the wake of that decision, some schools — like Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri — were able to quickly find partners and capitalize on the real estate.
Others seemed to dismiss the idea immediately.
“We’re pretty traditional,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told ESPN in 2024. “Never say never, but we obviously are fairly conservative when it comes to what we do from anything like that.”
South Carolina was always open to the idea, especially as it sought new money-making opportunities in the revenue-sharing era brought about by the House Settlement. The problem was finding a company open to a long-term commitment and partnership with the school.
“You want the brand to be invested beyond just putting the logo on the field,” Kistler said. “That’s where we had to be thoughtful in who we approached. I don’t think a logo slap on the field would have been very well received.”
So why Blanchard Machinery?
“This is just serendipity,” Hiott said. “One of Blanchard’s mottos is ‘We Build SC.” … This just ties perfectly into, one, what we do on a day-to-day basis; but, two, the stadium project.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM.
