From Soda Hall to the Football Field: Databricks Returns to Berkeley Roots with Cal Athletics Partnership

• Databricks and Cal Athletics announce a multi-year partnership, including the naming of Cal's football venue as "Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium."

• The partnership marks Databricks' first collegiate athletics sponsorship, deepening the company's ties to the UC Berkeley community, where it was founded, and where its co-founders still teach.

• The partnership is the largest in Cal Athletics history. Databricks branding will debut on the field during the Cal vs. Clemson nationally-televised game on ESPN this Friday, September 25, at 7:30 PM PDT.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA and BERKELEY, CA - A significant partnership has come to life in Berkeley as Cal Athletics and Learfield announced today a multi-year agreement with Databricks, the Data and AI Company. With the partnership, Cal's football venue will be named "Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium," and Databricks is now the Official Enterprise Data + AI platform for Cal Athletics. Beginning with Friday's nationally televised home game against ACC opponent Clemson on ESPN, the Databricks logo will also be on display at the 50-yard line.

The partnership with Cal Athletics marks Databricks' first collegiate athletics sponsorship and is the largest in Cal Athletics history. By teaming up with Cal Athletics, Databricks is investing in the next generation of students, athletes, and innovators who will shape the future of technology. The multi-year partnership will be funded through UC Berkeley becoming a shareholder in Databricks.

Databricks was born out of research conducted at UC Berkeley between 2009 and 2013. A team of researchers at that time showed novel techniques for processing data at massive scale, an important problem when companies want to leverage data to make better products and services. Those early results culminated in Apache Spark™, an open source software product now downloaded billions of times per year. Databricks has since expanded beyond Spark to provide a Data + AI infrastructure used by more than 20,000 organizations.

"We're grateful for this opportunity to partner with Databricks, an innovative firm born here, on the Berkeley campus," UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons said. "As we work to launch a new era of excellence for Cal Athletics, nothing is more important, or appreciated, than the continued engagement and support of campus community members past and present."

"My co-founders and I came to Berkeley as academics with the belief that data and AI would transform every organization," said Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and CEO of Databricks . "Berkeley taught us to think bigger than anyone thought was reasonable. Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium is our way of investing back into this community, and a bet on the next generation of founders, researchers, and builders."

A Partnership Spanning Cal Athletics
In addition to the premium visibility the midfield logo provides to both in-stadium attendees and millions of television viewers across the nation, Databricks will also take the field with the Golden Bears for every single play as a Databricks logo decal will make its debut on Cal football helmets for the October 3, 2026 game against UNLV. The unique logo placement will mark the first brand partnership to include helmet branding in the Atlantic Coast Conference and is among the first nationwide.

On top of the field naming rights and helmet decals secured through the partnership, the brand also becomes the namesake of the Databricks Club - formerly known as the Stadium Club - providing a premium, all-inclusive option to elevate gamedays for Golden Bear fans.

At Cal's Haas Pavilion, Databricks will activate across Golden Bear basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics competitions with high-visibility LED signage throughout the venue for every home competition hosted in the facility.

Why 20,000+ Customers Trust Databricks for Data + AI
The Databricks Data + AI Platform brings together an organization's data, analytics and AI in one place. Built on an open source foundation, it tackles the four barriers that stall enterprise AI: context - grounding models in real business knowledge; control - governing every model, agent and tool; cost - managing AI spend without slowing teams down; and choice - staying free of lock-in. The Data + AI Platform enables organizations to multiply output, drive innovation, increase revenue, lower costs and reduce risk. Customers use it to find and treat diseases like cancer earlier, discover new ways to combat climate change, catch financial fraud, develop pharmaceuticals faster, speed up mental health intervention, reduce local financial inequality and much more.

20,000+ customers, including 100+ sports organizations, rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to unify their data, analytics, and AI, leveraging tools including:

• Genie : AI coworker that gives every team instant access to governed business context

• Unity Gateway : Multi-AI governance and cost control across agents, tools, models, and MCPs

Learfield: Bringing the Partnership to Life
The partnership with Databricks was facilitated by Learfield - the leading media and technology company powering college athletics - led locally by the Cal Bears Sports Properties team with support from the company's Commercial Partnerships group.

"Cal is an innovative institution in every sense of the word and this comprehensive partnership with Databricks is a perfect example of that," said Kim Damron, President of Sports Properties at Learfield . "By packaging several high-impact assets that reach the Golden Bear fanbase and in multiple ways and across multiple sports, Databricks will have a prominent place in every Cal gameday - telling their brand story in a uniquely authentic way at the institution where the company began."

About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide - including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever and 70% of the Fortune 500 - rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to unify their data, analytics and AI. Built on an open source foundation, the platform gives teams a simple way to build AI that understands their business context. The platform includes the products Lakebase, Genie, Unity Gateway, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn , X , YouTube and Instagram .

About Cal Athletics
Founded in 1868, the University of California's flagship campus at Berkeley is one of the top-ranked universities in the world with 63 Nobel Prizes held by UC Berkeley alumni and offering more than 350 degree programs. Cal Athletics supports 850 student-athletes in 30 sports, and has as its mission: To Educate, Compete, Serve and Excel … Developing Leaders of Tomorrow. Cal teams have earned 106 national championships in 15 different sports, and Golden Bears have collected 246 medals at the Olympic Games.

About Learfield
Learfield is the leading media and technology company powering college athletics. Through its digital and physical platforms, Learfield owns and leverages a deep data set and relationships in the industry to drive revenue, growth, brand awareness, and fan engagement for brands, sports, and entertainment properties. With ties to over 1,200 collegiate institutions and over 12,000 local and national brand partners, Learfield's presence in college sports and live events delivers influence and maximizes reach to target audiences. With solutions for a 365-day, 24/7 fan experience, Learfield enables schools and brands to connect with fans through licensed merchandise, game ticketing, donor identification for athletic programs, exclusive custom content, innovative marketing initiatives, NIL solutions, and advanced digital platforms. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed Learfield Directors' Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.

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