Pitt AD Allen Greene Details New UPMC Sponsorship Deal

PITTSBURGH — Pitt Athletics announced a significant expansion to its partnership with UPMC on Thursday that will impact a number of areas throughout the department. The revamped partnership will feature a UPMC patch on Pitt football jerseys, presenting sponsor status of Pitt women’s sports and premium signage opportunities at the new Victory Heights Sports Performance Center and Arena in Oakland. Athletic Director Allen Greene discussed the process in which led to Pitt’s expanded partnership with UPMC. “Well first, I want to thank our team and the team at UPMC,” Greene said. “We’ve been having a conversation with them for the last couple months about this. They are an entity that tremendously cares about our community. They care about the people of our community. And there’s really not a lot of things that are more important than health at this stage. So this is an opportunity for us to combine two brands that are staples of the Pittsburgh community and the region, and also have an opportunity to talk not just about health overall, but women’s health in particular. That’s a really cool thing for us to be able to do. So I recognize that a lot of people out there are talking about the jersey patch, because that’s new, but there’s more impact than just the threads.” While the UPMC jersey patch, which will debut on Sept. 5 against Miami (OH), is a first of its kind in 2026 for Pitt football, Greene emphasized the importance that the partnership will have on the women’s teams. “I know one of the things that’s really important to UPMC is women’s health,” he said. “My wife is a breast cancer survivor. I’m sure that that will be on the docket. But we’re still working through how we have that impact, but we’ve made a commitment to each other that we are definitely going to have an impact for not just our community, but for the people of our community.” When asked about the financial impact regarding the deal, Greene says UPMC was the right fit compared to other opportunities. “A good one,” Greene said about the financial impact. “No, listen, we’re not going to talk about the terms of it, but I think it makes sense. And as we talk to a few different entities and companies about the jersey patch opportunity and then obviously the other impact opportunity, this would just make perfect sense for us.” The UPMC branding will also show up inside the Victory Heights Arena on campus as the athletic department still explores naming rights for the outside of the venue. “Yeah, it’s going to be indoor,” Greene said. “So we’re still looking for naming for the outside of it if anybody’s interested.” Greene also kept open the possibility that the UPMC logo will be displayed on the upper deck tarps at Acrisure Stadium during Pitt football home games in 2026. “It’s very possible,” he said. “So I’m going to play a little bit ignorant here. I don’t exactly know who all is on the tarp at this stage. We’re still working through some final pieces of it, but we’re going to be in good shape no matter what.” UPMC has served as the University’s Official Health Care Provider and a Lead Partner across Pitt Athletics since 1986, when the late Dr. Freddie Fu founded Pitt’s renowned sports medicine program. “I think it’s amplification and it’s intentionality,” Greene said when asked how the partnership between Pitt athletics and UPMC has evolved. “UPMC and the university, the entire university, not just athletics, has partnered. And obviously UPMC’s name is everywhere in this community. But we’re going to be much more intentional about how we amplify our partnership, not just our partnership, but the impacts of our partnership, particularly from a health perspective.”