The University of Miami is the original Nike school. Twenty-seven years ago, the university and the sporting brand signed a partnership that meant Nike would sponsor all of the school's teams. That kind of arrangement is de facto now, but back in 1987, it was the first of its kind. Just another small way the Hurricanes changed the face of college sports.
Well, that partnership is ending. According to several reports, the Hurricanes are ditching Nike for a much more lucrative contract with Adidas.
Nike outfits 45 of the 65 teams in the top five college football conferences, but Adidas has been working hard to chip away at that near-monopoly by throwing big money at certain schools.
Adidas gives $8.2 million a year to the University of Michigan and $7.8 million to Louisville. The company also recently lured Arizona away from Nike with a splashy contract. Because the University of Miami is a private school, the exact terms of the deal will not be made public. But the Palm Beach Post reports the deal is expected to be in line with the others.
Not only will the school receive more money, but players are also expected to get more gear from Adidas than they did from Nike. The deal is expected to be officially announced Thursday.
This means that after just a year playing in new Nike-designed uniforms, the football team will debut another uniform redesign before the 2015 season.
The Post, however, does point out that the deal may have some unexpected implications for the basketball team. Both Nike and Adidas (along with other shoemakers) sponsor AAU and high-school basketball teams and have a tendency to steer players associated with those team to schools they sponsor. Nike is much more active in youth basketball sponsorships than Adidas.
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