LSU's New Era: Woodside Energy Joins as Official Partner in Athletics
The Louisiana State University athletic program is “geaux-ing beyond,” to paraphrase one of its mottos, through an unprecedented promotional partnership with a global oil and gas firm.
LSU Athletics has announced a multi-year jersey patch partnership with Australian-based Woodside Energy. The Woodside Energy logo will be featured on all 21 of LSU’s competition apparel and will be designed to match the traditional purple and gold color scheme of Louisiana State University starting for the 2026 – 2027 athletic season.
“This partnership with Woodside Energy represents a monumental step forward for LSU Athletics and our student-athletes,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics Verge Ausberry, in a statement. “LSU continues to set the standard and remains at the forefront of this new era of collegiate athletics, and we are excited to align athletic excellence with community impact through this historic collaboration.”
Woodside Energy was founded in Australia but in recent decades also has developed exploration and production projects in offshore Louisiana. This includes last year’s $17.5 billion final investment decision to build its Louisiana liquified natural gas (LNG) project—with a projected capacity of 27.6 million metric tons per year—along the Gulf of Mexico coast, in partnership with Tulsa-based natural gas infrastructure firm Williams.
Although financial details of Woodside’s logo deal with LSU Athletics were not disclosed in the initial press release, the company will act as an Official Community Partner for the program, including investments in developing statewide community programs.
Woodside will have signage at all athletic venues as well as a diverse mix of marketing assets across all LSU sports channels, highlighting its long-term commitment to the Tigers, the Baton Rouge community and the state of Louisiana. The partnership is facilitated in combination with LSU’s official multimedia rights holder, Playfly Sports (DBA LSU Sports Properties), the sports industry’s revenue maximization company.
The era of “name, image and likeness” (NIL) and pay-to-play in major college athletics is raising the financial stakes for Division 1 programs such as LSU. LSU may spend $15 million alone on its football transfer portal NIL budget, according to Sportscasting.com and other reports.
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