Auburn partners with YellaWood in first on-field sponsorship to honor Pat Dye

Auburn Football/X

Auburn University announced a major partnership with one of their most prominent boosters on Wednesday which is going to honor their most legendary head coach and display the words “Pat Dye Field” on the playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Entering into a five-year agreement with YellaWood treated pine as well as founder and CEO Jimmy Rane — a deal which is reported to be in the eight-figure range — the new field displays are already done and read the words “Pat Dye Field” about the iconic Yellawood logo:

The deal is expected to have a massive impact on Auburn’s NIL efforts, especially in the revenue sharing era when programs now more than ever are having to find creative ways to generate funds in order to keep up with the rapidly changing world.

“Pat Dye revolutionized Auburn Athletics,” said Rane, reminiscing how he knew Auburn had the real deal at Dye’s 1981 introductory news conference.

“He left no doubt about what he was about and what he intended to do. The reporter asked him, ‘Coach, how long is it going to take you to beat Alabama?’ With a cold-eyed, steel look, he looked at him and said, ‘Sixty minutes.’ You knew damn well he meant business. From that day forward until he stopped coaching, that’s the attitude and grit he brought to Auburn’s program.

“When the opportunity arose to do it, I knew I did not want that sacred field to be just used for a commercial,” Rane said. “I didn’t want it to just be some company’s name on there. If we were going to do this, I wanted to make sure it first and foremost honored Coach Dye and that our name was smaller, lower and under his – because it’s Pat Dye Field.”

The program dropped a video featuring head coach Hugh Freeze along with Rane talking about how much Dye meant to the program as well as several Auburn stars standing by the new logo.

“We are profoundly grateful to Jimmy Rane and YellaWood for honoring Coach Dye and supporting Auburn Athletics in this innovative manner,” athletics director John Cohen said. “To Jimmy and to Auburn, this is so much more than a sponsorship agreement.”

The first home game with the logo displayed will be on September 6 at 6:30 p.m. CST in week two against Ball State.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.