Ram Signs Five Texas Longhorns and Becomes the CFP's Official Truck
A season-long ESPN sponsorship and NIL deals with five Longhorns players make "Nothing Stops Football" Ram's biggest sports-marketing bet since its NASCAR return.
Ram has signed name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements with five Texas Longhorns football players and taken over as the official truck sponsor of the College Football Playoff — the twin anchors of "Nothing Stops Football," a season-long campaign that ranks as the brand's biggest sports-marketing swing since its NASCAR comeback.
Announced on September 14, the program runs through a deal with Disney Advertising that makes Ram the Official Tailgate Truck Sponsor of ESPN College Football. The brand will appear across live broadcasts, studio shows, and digital coverage from the regular season through the CFP National Championship.
A separate agreement with Longhorn Sports Properties, the Learfield division that handles Texas Athletics' commercial rights, adds original content, dealership activations, and game-day experiences in Austin. The five players — Cam Coleman, Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Jelani McDonald, and Trevor Goosby — will front campaign creative and social content throughout the 2026 season.
The campaign, created with agency Doner, extends the "Nothing Stops Ram" tagline the brand introduced in June 2025 alongside two much louder announcements: the HEMI V-8's return to the Ram 1500 and a comeback in NASCAR. That comeback became real this August, when Ram lined up in the Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona with Kaulig Racing — its first NASCAR start since 2012. The brand has also secured the exclusive truck sponsorship of next year's America250 celebrations.
"Nothing Stops Football" is the first major campaign under Matt VanDyke, who became Ram CEO on July 20 after a marketing-heavy career at Ford and its dealer-services arm FordDirect. His hiring was part of Stellantis chief Antonio Filosa's wider reshuffle of the automaker's American brand leadership.
The push also lands on turf Nissan has held for more than a decade. Its "Heisman House" campaign has run every season since 2011, and the company signed its first active-player NIL deal with Alabama quarterback Bryce Young in 2022. Ram is skipping the nostalgia route entirely, going straight to a current roster and concentrating all five of its athlete deals at a single program.
A multicultural extension of the campaign is due later this month. Ram hasn't disclosed the financial terms of the ESPN relationship or the Texas sponsorship, and the effort runs through the CFP National Championship game in January 2027.
