Cal Signs Databricks As Field Naming Rights in Record Athletics Deal

The Berkeley-founded data and AI company gains midfield, helmet and venue branding as UC Berkeley becomes a shareholder.

Cal Athletics and Databricks announced a multiyear agreement Sept. 24 that will name the Golden Bears’ football field “Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium.” Cal called it the largest partnership in its athletics history and Databricks’ first collegiate athletics sponsorship. The stadium’s name remains California Memorial Stadium.

The agreement will be funded through UC Berkeley becoming a shareholder in Databricks, according to Cal’s announcement. The school did not disclose the financial terms or the exact duration. The deal is reportedly worth up to $22.8 million over as many as 10 years, according to Inc.

Databricks branding debuted at midfield for Cal’s Sept. 25 home game against Clemson. A logo decal is scheduled to appear on Golden Bears helmets beginning with the Oct. 3 game at UNLV. Cal said it would be the first helmet-branding partnership in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The company also receives naming rights to the premium Databricks Club, formerly the Stadium Club, and LED signage at Haas Pavilion during home basketball, volleyball and gymnastics events. Learfield’s Cal Bears Sports Properties unit facilitated the agreement.

Databricks is now the Official Enterprise Data + AI Platform for Cal Athletics. Neither party announced a specific athletics technology deployment or performance targets as part of the sponsorship.

The partnership reconnects the company with the campus where its founders’ research helped produce Apache Spark between 2009 and 2013. Databricks was subsequently founded by researchers associated with UC Berkeley.

“We’re grateful for this opportunity to partner with Databricks, an innovative firm born here, on the Berkeley campus.” — Rich Lyons, Chancellor, UC Berkeley

From Soda Hall to the Football Field: Databricks Returns to Berkeley Roots with Cal Athletics Partnership

Databricks and Cal Athletics announce a multi-year partnership, including the naming of Cal’s football venue as “Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium.”The partnership marks Databricks’ first collegiate athletics sponsorship, deepening the company’s ties to the UC Berkeley community, where it was founded, and where its co-founders still teach.The partnership is the largest in Cal Athletics history.

Databricks

https://www.inc.com/liyana-illyas/databricks-uc-berkeley/91410749