National Collegiate Athletic Association

Press Release

« back to 2012 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index

Hershey extends partnership with NCAA

The Hershey Company will continue to support NCAA student-athletes through an extended Corporate Partner agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Sports. As the Official Candy Partner of the NCAA, Hershey’s will continue to have access to marketing rights across all 89 NCAA championships through 2016.

“Over the years, Hershey has demonstrated leading business principles and values, which echo the NCAA’s dedication to the highest standards in academics and athletics," said Mark Lewis, executive vice president for championships and alliances, NCAA. “We are thrilled Hershey will remain in the NCAA Corporate Partner family, and we look forward to four more successful years of working together.  Our corporate program reinforces support for our championships and our NCAA membership. We want to take this opportunity to celebrate our corporate marketing program, which remains strong.”  

Hershey joins 13 other Corporate Champions and Partners to help the NCAA emphasize the role of athletics and academics in America by supporting NCAA youth programs, student-athlete awards and honors and scholarship initiatives. As a Corporate Partner, Hershey will continue to provide a direct, positive impact on the academic and developmental opportunities afforded to more than 400,000 NCAA student-athletes each year.

“This is an especially exciting time for Hershey as we extend our role as part of a prestigious group of NCAA partners,” said Dan Vucovich, senior vice president, president, United States, The Hershey Company. “The devotion, loyalty and tremendous following fans have for their respective NCAA teams mirrors the passion and desire people have for our iconic Reese’s candy, making the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports ideal partners to collaborate with and successfully market our full line of products.”

In addition to marketing rights, the renewal also allows The Hershey Company continued title sponsorship for its Reese’s College All-Star Game during the NCAA Men’s Final Four^®Weekend, which will be broadcast on CBS and title sponsorship of Reese’s Final Four Friday^®.  The Reese’s brand will also receive entitlement to the Division II and Division III All-Star games.  Hershey will continue to designate its Reese's Peanut Butter Cups brand as the NCAA's Official Candy. Hershey will also support the partnership with integrated marketing programs, promotional campaigns, activation platforms, social and digital media and advertising across a variety of mediums at the national, regional and local levels.