ITHACA, N.Y. — SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College have entered into a four-year partnership with Visions Federal Credit Union that will make the credit union the first naming sponsor in the history of the Cortaca Jug football rivalry.
The partnership begins with the 2026 season and runs through the 2029 game, according to SUNY Cortland. The annual NCAA Division III rivalry game will be known as the “Cortaca Jug presented by Visions Federal Credit Union.”
A co-branded logo will also be developed for each year of the partnership.
Game Set for Yankee Stadium
The agreement begins with the Nov. 14, 2026, Cortaca Jug game at Yankee Stadium in New York. The 2027, 2028 and 2029 games are scheduled to return to the campuses of the two schools, which are located less than 25 miles apart in Central New York.
“For many years, the Cortaca Jug rivalry has stood on its own as one of the most unique rivalries in Division III athletics, and this partnership with Visions Federal Credit Union serves as further proof,” SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum said.
Attendance Records Broken
Bitterbaum said the rivalry has broken attendance records and attracted national media attention while becoming a source of pride for both institutions.
“Visions’ support will help grow the Cortaca Jug game’s visibility, build ties in our community and create new opportunities for our students and alumni for years to come,” he said.
Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish said the partnership brings together three organizations with strong connections to the region.
“Together, we share a responsibility to help this region thrive, and we’re proud to have Visions as a partner as we carry this extraordinary tradition forward and expand its impact both on and off the field,” Cornish said.
Partnership to Include Financial Literacy
As the naming sponsor, Visions Federal Credit Union will receive recognition associated with the game throughout the four-year agreement, SUNY Cortland said.
The relationship will also extend beyond football, with Visions having opportunities to contribute to financial-literacy programming at both SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College during the fall and spring semesters.
“The Cortaca Jug is easily one of the most recognized and celebrated college sports rivalries in Upstate New York, and Visions is excited to be part of it,” said Tim Strong, assistant vice president for branding and community impact at Visions.
Strong said the schools’ alumni live throughout many of the communities the credit union serves in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“There is no better place to launch this long-term partnership than the iconic setting of Yankee Stadium,” he said.
Rivalry Has Drawn More Than 40,000 Fans
The 2026 contest will mark the Cortaca Jug’s second appearance at Yankee Stadium.
The teams played there in 2022 before a crowd of 40,232.
The rivalry also moved to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 2019, when 45,161 fans attended the game. SUNY Cortland said that turnout set an NCAA Division III attendance record.
About the Cortaca Jug
The Cortaca Jug rivalry traditionally pits the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons against the Ithaca College Bombers.
Cortland and Ithaca first met on the gridiron in 1930, and in 1959 the Cortaca Jug “traveling trophy” (utilizing portions of both the Cortland and Ithaca names) was introduced for the winning team. Cortland’s Tom Decker ’61, a team captain, and his friend Dick Carmean, an Ithaca captain, turned a ceramic milk jug purchased for $2 at a yard sale in Homer, N.Y., into the original Cortaca Jug. The score from each year’s regular-season game between the schools was added to the jug, necessitating a second jug to be created in 1985 and a third one in 2016.
“The Biggest Little Game in the Nation” earned its nickname in 1991 from Sports Illustrated. “The biggest little game in the nation could turn out to be Ithaca vs. SUNY Cortland by the shores of New York state’s Cayuga Lake on Nov. 9, 1991,” wrote sportswriter John Walters in the Aug. 26, 1991, edition.
According to the universities, after decades of drawing sellout crowds on the two campuses, the game reached new heights in 2019 when the teams played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., in front of a Division III record 45,161 fans. In 2022, the teams played at Yankee Stadium with a crowd of 40,232, the second-best attendance in Division III history. Since 2010, only eight of 25 football games at Yankee Stadium have drawn more than 40,000 fans — four involving Notre Dame, two with Penn State, the Division I Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry game, and the 2022 Cortaca Jug game.
