Courtesy of JTA Photo credit: Manischewitz
BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff reached a sponsorship deal with Jewish food brand Manischewitz
(JTA) — After a historic football season at BYU, Jake Retzlaff’s latest honor places him in the company of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali: having his face grace an iconic box of food.
Retzlaff, the star quarterback at Brigham Young University, has nabbed a sponsorship deal with Manischewitz, the Jewish food company’s first-ever sports deal. The deal includes special-edition boxes of Manischewitz matzah emblazoned with Retzlaff’s likeness.
Retzlaff, 21, who grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California, is BYU’s first Jewish starting quarterback and one of only three Jewish students at the Mormon flagship in Utah. His story has resonated with fans, Jewish and not, both because of his athletic prowess — he threw 20 touchdowns as he led BYU to a 10-2 record in the Big-12 Conference and a top-25 national ranking — and because of his public embrace of his Jewish identity. Retzlaff wears a Star of David necklace around campus and has taken on the nickname “BY-Jew.”
Retzlaff’s sponsorship was negotiated through a three-year-old NCAA initiative — called “Name, Image, Likeness,” or NIL — that allows college athletes to profit from their personal brands. It will include a limited run of Retzlaff matzah boxes that won’t be available in stores but will be distributed in a giveaway, as well as social media and video content including Retzlaff and showcasing recipes and holiday traditions. An announcement video features Retzlaff eating and signing sheets of matzah and talking about his Jewish upbringing.
Manischewitz declined to share how much it is paying Retzlaff for the deal, which runs from Hanukkah through Passover. (A Washington Post investigation found that many athletes and universities do not reveal specifics of NIL deals.)
“Manischewitz has always been part of my life,” Retzlaff said in a press release. “I grew up with matzo with peanut butter as my favorite snack, and every Passover, my family and I made matzo pizza together. At Chanukah time our tradition was making potato latkes.”
He continued: “Now, at BYU, I’m able to share these traditions with my teammates. This partnership is about more than football — it’s about creating connections and celebrating Jewish pride in ways I never expected.”
In its announcement, Manischewitz, the instantly recognizable kosher food brand founded in Cincinnati in 1888 and known especially for its matzah, highlighted Retzlaff’s involvement in the local Jewish community in Provo, Utah — where BYU is located and where he has wrapped tefillin in the school’s stadium and led the city’s first public Hanukkah menorah lighting. (Last year, the county whose seat is in Provo played an unlikely role influencing Israeli domestic politics.)
“We are so proud to welcome Jake officially into the Manischewitz family this holiday season,” Shani Seidman, the chief marketing officer of Kayco, Manischewitz’s parent company, said in the release. “He is such an inspiration, and we are honored to support his exciting football career and dream. This partnership represents everything the brand aspires to be — celebrating our heritage and bringing awareness to Jewish food and excellence.”
Retzlaff’s agreement with Manischewitz follows in the footsteps of — who else? — baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who in 1962 invested in a Los Angeles motel that renamed itself “Sandy Koufax’s Tropicana Motel.” In the decades since, Jewish athletes have struck sponsorship deals big and small, from MLB draftee Elie Kligman’s yarmulke brand deal to WNBA legend Sue Bird’s long-running endorsement deals with Nike and American Express.
Retzlaff’s NIL deal was the brainchild of Jewish comedian Eitan Levine, who had been working with Manischewitz on other content projects and pitched the idea to each side. Levine, who makes Jewish sports videos for his own social media profiles, had produced reels about both Manischewitz and Retzlaff, the latter of which he said received over a million views across platforms.
Levine said connecting Manischewitz and Retzlaff felt like the perfect pairing — almost like a shidduch, the Hebrew word for a romantic match.
“First of all, Manischewitz is Jewish, Jewish is Manischewitz,” Levine said in an interview. “Food is one of the biggest parts of Judaism, arguably bigger than the Torah itself. When you think of Manischewitz, I immediately think of Jewish culture.”
As for Retzlaff, Levine said, the quarterback not only has an “absolutely incredible” story, but he has been shattering Jewish stereotypes along the way.
“I think that he does such a good job at representing Judaism and representing just the positive side of our community,” Levine said. “There’s not a lot of Jewish football players out there. He’s a DI, 10-win school that’s going to be going to a bowl game. And he’s very proudly and prominently Jewish.”
Levine said he went to Provo to film content with Manischewitz and could immediately tell how much BYU fans have embraced Retzlaff, who did not respond to a request for comment, and his story. And as a graduate of Yeshiva University, Levine said he could feel the similarities between the Orthodox Jewish flagship and the Mormon school.
“I was walking around that campus, and there’s very similar energy,” Levine said. “There is an immediate understanding, or just like a comfortability, between these two groups.”
And at the end of the day, Levine said, Retzlaff’s NIL deal provides a feel-good Jewish story at a time when the Jewish community has been hurting.
“This past year has not exactly been great,” Levine said. “Antisemitism has been spiking to insane degrees. And a lot of the stories that come out about the Jewish community — they’re so few and far between — are they positive? This is a purely positive story, being able to merge Manischewitz, which is a purely positive Jewish brand — no one hates Jewish food — and merging that with Jake, which is a purely positive Jewish story, it just makes complete sense.”
