Outside of in-game ads, one of the most valuable—and expensive—pieces of Super Bowl ad inventory is on the Las Vegas Sphere, the rotund arena whose massive outer shell, dubbed “exosphere,” is expected to command major attention Super Bowl week. But when it comes to buying Sphere placements, NFL sponsors are getting special treatment.

League sponsors got exclusive rights to Sphere ads during Super Bowl week as result of a collaborative deal between the NFL and operators of the venue, an NFL spokesperson confirmed to Ad Age today. The league is expected to make an official announcement on the deal in the coming days.

The arrangement means that sponsors have exclusivity in the categories they operate. For instance, Verizon is the league’s official wireless brand, so it got first crack at an ad buy ahead of competitors such as T-Mobile. Verizon today confirmed to Ad Age that it would have a week-long presence on the Sphere with plans to “transform the Las Vegas skyline and showcase the network NFL fans rely on in a way that only Sphere and Verizon can.” 

Brands belonging to categories in which the NFL does not have an official sponsor had the ability to advertise on Sphere during the week of the Super Bowl, a source familiar with the situation told Ad Age.

But demand was strong enough from sponsors that all Sphere ads next week will be from official NFL partners. The league currently has 35 sponsors across dozens of categories, including beer (Anheuser-Busch InBev), snacks and beverages (PepsiCo), grooming and household products (Procter & Gamble), and more.

The NFL did not disclose terms of the deal. Campaign last month reported that Sphere ads for Super Bowl week were running between $1 million to $2 million, with prices rising the closer the buys are to game day on Feb. 11. By comparison, 30-second Super Bowl ads are going for about $7 million.

PepsiCo has already begun Sphere ads although the placements will only run through Feb. 3, the company confirmed to Ad Age. In a separate arrangement, PepsiCo and Sphere announced this week that the food and beverage giant will serve as an official partner in a pact that includes distribution of PepsiCo products across the venue’s concession stands and “grab and go” stations.

P&G competitor Unilever is among the brands that explored Sphere advertising and ended up securing time this week, not next week, to plug its Hellmann’s brand, which is running an in-game ad. One of the characters in the spot—Mayo Cat—is featured in the Sphere ad.

“We considered multiple weeks to activate on the Sphere but felt that the week of 1/29 aligned perfectly to complement the launch of our Big Game spot going live on January 30,” Chris Symmes, Unilever marketing director for dressings in North America, told Ad Age in a statement, noting the Sphere “is only open to official NFL Sponsors the week of the game (Feb 4-11).”

Not all sponsors pursued Sphere ads, however. Toyota, which in October finalized a deal to become the league’s official automotive partner, does not plan to run a Sphere ad, a spokesperson told Ad Age. Uber, another NFL partner, has also confirmed with Ad Age that it is not running an ad on Sphere.

The NFL-Sphere collab was apparently in the works for a while. BMW, another Super Bowl advertiser that is not an NFL sponsor, late last year looked into a Sphere for Super Bowl week but was blocked out, BMW of North America Chief Marketing Officer Marcus Casey told Ad Age in a November interview. “That’s something I had explored early on … but you’re not allowed,” he said.

Contributing: Jack Neff