Farmers Insurance Adds Assurance To SWAC Football, Hoops
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 02:50AM 
Duer Sharp of the SWAC and Faye McClure of Farmers Insurance make the sponsorship deal official.September 2, 2009: If you need some financial insurance during these challenging economic times you should go right to the source. Which is what the Southwestern Athletic Conference has done. The SWAC has signed a deal under which Farmers Insurance Group of Companies becomes title sponsor of the 2009-2012 SAC football championships and conference basketball tournaments. Farmers also becomes the "official insurance and financial services provider" of the SWAC.
The agreement includes coverage of all ten colleges and universities in the SWAC. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Farmers Insurance Group 2009 SWAC Football Championship and SWAC Basketball Tournaments will be shown nationally on ESPNU. This year's football championship will be played Dec.12; the basketball tournaments will be held in March 2010, just prior to the NCAA Division 1 men's basketball tournament.
Founded in 1920, the SWAC is a mid-major college athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., which is made up of historically black colleges and universities in the southern U.S.: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn, Grambling, Mississippi State, Jackson, Mississippi Valley, Prairie Valley, Southern, Texas Southern and Arkansas Pine Bluff. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports except football, where it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA).
Farmers Insurance joins other corporate sponsors including Nike, Russell, Jostens and Alagasco.
"The sponsorship is a Farmers tradition of reaching out to communities and young students in today's world and letting them know we support them not only in athletics, but all that they do academically and in their future endeavors," Faye McClure, Farmers' vp-strategic marketing, said in a statement.
Added SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp, "This agreement with our newest corporate sponsor allows the rich history, tradition and legacy of our great conference to partner with the one of the nation's most innovative companies and allow enhancement of the Championship experience for our student-athletes." Back to Home Page