Celebrity Name: Jalen Milroe
Brand Name: New Balance
Represented By: Klutch Sports Group
Deal Type: Athlete Ambassador
Announced: March 20, 2026
Impact: Elevates Milroe’s profile as a rising NFL quarterback while helping New Balance expand its presence in American football through authentic, performance-driven storytelling
- Jalen Milroe, Super Bowl champion quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, has officially joined New Balance as a brand ambassador, the brand’s first active NFL quarterback on its roster.
- Milroe will work hands-on with New Balance’s product team on wear testing and developing new football footwear, giving direct feedback at every stage.
- The deal includes appearances in both performance and lifestyle campaigns, placing Milroe alongside star athletes like Coco Gauff, Shohei Ohtani, and Gabby Thomas.
- The signing aligns with New Balance’s aggressive push into American football. The brand also just locked in a long-term partnership with the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium.
Jalen Milroe, the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl champion quarterback, is New Balance’s newest athlete ambassador. The announcement dropped on March 20, 2026, at a fireside chat with sports broadcaster Maria Taylor.
Represented by Klutch Sports Group, Milroe will play a direct role in designing and testing new football footwear while also starring in performance and lifestyle campaigns.
He called the partnership “special,” saying New Balance showed genuine interest in who he is as a person, not just as a player. His brother’s longtime love of the brand made it feel even more personal: “It feels like a full circle moment,” Milroe said.
Milroe’s journey has been anything but ordinary. A two-year starter at Alabama, he won the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, the “Academic Heisman,” before the Seattle Seahawks selected him in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Off the field, he visits a children’s hospital every Tuesday, coaches youth football in Alabama, and runs four camps annually for over 1,000 kids.
His signing also lines up with New Balance’s wider NFL push. The brand recently sealed a long-term deal with the New England Patriots, including naming rights for a new 160,000-square-foot training facility.
Just as Matthew Stafford made history as the first pro football ambassador for Johnnie-O, and Terrell Owens partnered with Centerline for a major pickleball campaign, Milroe’s deal marks another signal that NFL athletes are becoming power players in the brand ambassador space.
Takeaways
This isn’t just a footwear deal, it’s a statement. New Balance is building a full-court American football strategy, and Jalen Milroe is the face of that push at the player level.
By bringing in a young, dual-threat quarterback with a squeaky-clean off-field reputation and a real connection to the brand, New Balance gets authenticity that money alone can’t buy.
What’s telling is the product development angle. This isn’t a “wear our logo” deal, Milroe is embedded in the design process. That level of involvement builds deeper brand loyalty, produces better products, and gives New Balance a credible football voice as it challenges legacy players like Nike and Adidas in the sport.
For Milroe, landing a major lifestyle brand partnership this early in his career shows serious off-field commercial momentum. And his story (military family, academic honors, community work) makes him uniquely marketable beyond the typical athlete template.
Can New Balance realistically challenge Nike and Adidas for NFL market share, or is this a niche play? Will Milroe’s role in actual product development make the partnership feel more authentic to football fans?
