Industry

Benchmade Signs a Three-Year Deal With Oregon Football

BenchmadeSeptember 23, 2026Source: Business Insider / GlobeNewswire

Knife companies sponsor shooting sports, bushcraft events and knife shows. Benchmade has just done something less predictable: a three-year partnership with Oregon Sports Properties that makes the company the Official Tailgate Partner of the Oregon Ducks football program.

The deal was announced in early September and covers the 2026 season onward, with Benchmade activations built around stadium signage, game-day content, fan experiences, and its own branded tailgate. Oregon Sports Properties is the rights management organization for the Ducks, and the agreement was brokered around a straightforward brand fit that the company is happy to spell out: Benchmade is an Oregon manufacturer, and cooking, grilling and gathering around food are already part of its product story. The partnership formally began on August 20 with a Benchmade-hosted barbecue for the Oregon football team at Autzen Stadium.

"What connects us as two premier brands in Oregon is the culture around the game of football itself," said Jon deAsis, Benchmade's CEO, in the announcement. "The rituals of gameday and tailgating emphasize competition, food, friends and bringing folks together." Kelly Schukart, vice president and general manager of Oregon Sports Properties, framed it similarly, pointing to fan tailgates and campaigns with student-athletes as the visible parts of the deal.

Why it matters beyond one college football season is what it says about where knife money is going. Benchmade has spent years pushing past the enthusiast audience — the company's catalog now includes kitchen cutlery, hunting gear and everyday tools — and a football partnership is an audience play aimed at exactly the crossover customer who grills, hunts and carries a folding knife. It is a much broader funnel than a knife show booth, and it comes with the credibility of a local-manufacturing narrative attached.

For knife buyers, the practical question is whether the partnership changes products. It does not; there are no football-branded knives in the announcement. It is a marketing investment, and the measure of whether it works will be in whether Benchmade's brand recognition extends past people who already read knife news.

benchmadeoregon duckssponsorshiporegon sports propertiesindustry newsbranding

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