The percentage of Jews living in Provo, Utah, is approximately 0%. The percentage of Mormons living in Provo is just short of 90%.
Yet, the city of nearly 115,000 is the the center of the Jewish college football world.
BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff, the first Jewish quarterback in team history, has signed a name, image and likeness deal with Manischewitz, the first of its kind with the Jewish food and wine brand.
“I grew up with matzo with peanut butter as my favorite snack, and every Passover, my family and I made matzo pizza together,” Retzlaff said in a statement. “At Chanukah time, our tradition was making potato latkes. 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.”
The deal will feature 300 limited-edition matzo boxes featuring Retzlaff as well as future videos of the quarterback engaging in Manischewitz content.
A number of these 300 will be given away at the Alamo Bowl as No. 17 BYU faces No. 23 Colorado in an all-Big 12 matchup Dec. 28. said Eitan Levine, who helped create the deal.
Additionally, Manischewitz is working with Retzlaff’s team to generate a wider release.
But how did this deal come to be?
Since 1888, when Manischewitz was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz, the food and wine brand has been just that, a kosher food and wine company.
But in the last few months, Manischewitz has entered the content space.
Partnering with Levine, a Jewish comedian and content creator, the brand created a show called “When Can We Eat”, where Levine travels to the least Jewish parts of America to have people try Jewish cuisine.
Levine, who has made several videos about Retzlaff on his social media pages, went to Manischewitz with the idea of creating an NIL deal for the Cougars QB, who captured the national spotlight as the "BYJew" who has led the Cougars to a 10-2 record.
“The second that you said it out loud, it’s like how did he not already have this going,” Levine said. “There are three Jews in all of Brigham Young University, and one of them is arguably the most popular person on the college campus.”
The first domino to fall was getting Manischewitz to sign on, but that took little convincing, according to Levine.
The second domino was Retzlaff and his team. And while Retzlaff is obviously familiar with Jewish tradition, many people involved in facilitating the deal weren’t.
“There were even moments where I had to explain to them what gefilte fish was,” Levine said.
And that was especially true with the third domino: BYU.
There are levels to the deal, related to faith, in which the agreement had to be very particular.
Manischewitz is a food and wine company. Part of the concern from BYU was an association with wine. So, everything in Retzlaff’s deal with Manischewitz had to come from the food section of the company.
“You know, like, a million kids have Nike deals,” Levine said. “This is the only time Manischewitz has done something like this.”
Talks of the deal began in November, Levine said, but the bulk of the agreement came together over the week of Thanksgiving, a process which was completed in just about three weeks.
The announcement of the NIL agreement came last week.
"We are so proud to welcome Jake officially into the Manischewitz family this holiday season," said Shani Seidman, CMO of Kayco, parent company of Manischewitz, in a statement. "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."
Perhaps surprisingly, BYU has been a go-to team to root for among Jewish football fans this season.
Levine, for instance, has never had a college football team to cheer on. He attended Yeshiva University, a private Orthodox Jewish college in New York City. The school's basketball team produced Ryan Turell, who currently plays in the NBA G-League. But they don't have a football team. So, Levine, and many others, have found themselves rooting for Retzlaff, the only Jewish starting quarterback in all of FBS, and thus, BYU.
“Every element of this has been like a no-brainer,” Levine added.
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct.