Central Missouri announced D-II's first jersey patch deal. One problem: D-II can't have jersey patches yet.

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I’ve been trying to track as many jersey patch sponsorship deals as I can. So far, the announced deals run the gamut from massive sponsorship deals worth five figures annually at Power 4 schools to single-sport contracts for mid- and low majors. Schools far outside the FBS power structure — like UIC, George Washington, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Southern Indiana — have all announced jersey patch deals.

So it shouldn’t be that surprising that Division II schools would get in on the act. This morning, the University of Central Missouri announced a jersey partnership deal with Shelter Insurance, believed to be the first jersey patch sponsorship agreement in D-II.

Industry sources tell Extra Points that the five-year contract is worth six figures annually and will include a mark on the uniform of every varsity sport uniform UCM sponsors. That figure would be in line with the bottom end of the Division I market, a testament to UCM’s brand and fan base at the D-II level.

So all of that sounds like great news for Central Missouri. But there’s just one teensy problem.

D-II schools aren’t technically allowed to have jersey patches. At least, not yet.

Back in January, the NCAA D-I cabinet approved the proposal that would allow schools to sell commercial patches on uniforms. This proposal didn’t drop out of thin air; schools, the NCAA, multimedia rights holders and athletic apparel companies had been discussing the possibility for months ahead of the announcement. In fact, UNLV announced its partnership in December, before the official announcement.

But that January vote only applied to D-I institutions. Membership at the D-II level wasn’t entirely certain where it wanted to go yet.