Social media is taking over the sports world.
Well, not really. But Akron University is certainly doing something I’ve never seen before: The school is printing its Twitter handles on the back of jerseys.
For this Saturday night’s home game against Ohio University, the Zips will don new jerseys that feature the team’s official Twitter handle @ZipsMBB in the space normally reserved for players’ names. It’s part of Saturday’s “Social Media Night” where the team is using all kinds of social media promotions, including hashtags on the gym floor and photo contests on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Lots of folks over on Reddit definitely think this is taking social media too far.
CBS notes how the NCAA is permitting this but refused to let the University of Iowa print the name of the late Chris Street, one of the most beloved players in school history, on its jerseys for one game.
I’ve reached out to the University of Washington athletic department for its thoughts, but they declined to comment.
UPDATE, 1/28 11:00 P.M. — The NCAA rejected Akron’s request to use the handle in place of the names. Akron will have the handles on the back of the warmup shirts, but not during the game.
Previously on GeekWire: Washington’s Steve Sarkisian is the 5th most popular college football coach on Twitter
