FE Lock Up: FedEx Takes Over Memphis Football’s End Zone

Memphis just put the corporate world straight into the red zone. Forget NIL, forget boosters sneaking checks in duffel bags. FedEx and Memphis Athletics flipped their old NIL arrangement into a full-blown sponsorship deal and you’re gonna see it front and center every Saturday.

FedEx in the Paint

This ain’t no subtle banner in the concourse. Starting this fall the FedEx logo will sit inside both end zones at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. Yeah, you read that right. Corporate branding painted right inside the scoring zones of college football. Memphis is one of the first schools in the country to make that move thanks to a push from Learfield’s Tiger Sports Properties.

University President Dr. Bill Hardgrave dropped the company line:

“FedEx continues to further establish itself as a leading brand in the future of collegiate athletics. We look forward to seeing one of the world’s most iconic logos in our end zones this fall.”

Translation: FedEx cut the check and Memphis is cashing it.

Sideline Glow Up

The sidelines are getting in on the action too. Both will feature a shiny new lockup logo mashing together the Memphis Leaping Tiger with FedEx under the slogan:
“Moving Memphis Athletics Forward. Together.”

It’s part booster, part billboard. AD Dr. Ed Scott spun it into the bigger picture:

“This partnership enhances opportunities for our student-athletes, strengthens our athletics program, and benefits the entire City of Memphis.”

Sure. But mostly it makes sure recruits see FedEx painted on the field when they visit.

FedEx’s Endgame

FedEx has always been tied to Memphis sports. Grizzlies. Tigers. The whole thing. But this is different. This is FedEx saying we’re not just in the arena we are the arena.

Jenny Robertson, the FedEx exec running global brand and comms, dressed it up nicely:

“Supporting sports is more than marketing. It’s how we connect with fans to build loyalty and a sense of community both in our hometown of Memphis and on a national level.”

UNC translation? It ain’t about loyalty. It’s about brand dominance. And FedEx just locked up a placement no billboard could ever buy.

What It Really Means

College athletics is evolving at warp speed. NIL. Super conferences. Media rights cash grabs. Memphis isn’t naïve. They know they’re outside the SEC and Big Ten country clubs. So what do you do? You link arms with your biggest hometown giant and carve out relevance your own way.

This deal is about more than just logos. It’s about showing recruits fans and TV cameras that Memphis is playing the corporate game as aggressively as anyone else. And in 2025 that’s survival.

The Debut

Circle it. August 30 Memphis vs. Chattanooga. The new look end zones hit the field for the first time. FedEx in bold paint. Tigers running through it. And the entire college football world taking notes on just how much the lines between tradition and advertising are blurring.

This is the new playbook. College football sold a chunk of its sacred real estate to FedEx and Memphis was first to cash in. Some purists will cry. Some rivals will clown. But at the end of the day, Memphis football just scored the biggest FedEx delivery of all. A future with their hometown titan stamped on every touchdown.