It seems the Big 12 Conference and its deal with Monster Energy Drink have a new challenge: public health. That’s what a group of doctors contend as a legitimate issue with the league’s new partnership, which includes controversial uniform patches.
The Big 12 inked its Monster deal earlier this summer, which basically ties the two entities together through a branding partnership focused on taking the league into spaces it normally wouldn’t, while allowing Monster stick its logo on everything from playing surfaces to the very uniforms of all 16 conference members for the upcoming 2026-27 calendar year.
On Thursday, USA Today broke a story involving a group of doctors and scientists concerned about “the youth-visible promotion of a stimulant,” and that a petition had been signed and sent to multiple times to the Big 12 Board of Directors Chairman Doug Girod, the Chancellor at the University of Kansas. The group issued the following demands with its petition:
• Suspend the partnership and remove the branding from uniforms, surfaces, student sections and all youth-targeted media.
• Conduct an “independent health review, including pediatrics and cardiovascular medicine.”
• Lastly, the petition asks for the matter to be brought to the entire Big 12 board before moving forward with football and basketball branding partnerships, which are two of the biggest spaces where branding would be visible.
The Monster deal generates around $20 million annually for the Big 12, which is certainly poised to benefit from the inverse of the deal and through whichever channels the energy drink similarly boasts the league and its activities. The NASCAR deal is a perfect example. This latest challenge, though, now puts the conference in the court of public health, and may demand some sort of statement from the league justifying its partnership with the contested, high-stimulant beverage.
There are genuine risks when consuming energy drinks, and questions of their ingredients, which include high levels of caffeine and sugar, raise eyebrows about the long-term impact of youth consumers, which are a major target for the Big 12 when it comes to driving ticket sales on campus and growing the league’s brand nationally.
It’s hard to imagine the league moving away from its partnership in the near future, and Monster Energy’s major check carries enough weight that it won’t cause any immediate changes to the outlined deal. Those patches are likely sticking around for a while, whether or not they contain the Monster logo. If it’s not those guys, it’ll be someone else. You can bet on that.
