The Univ. of Louisville on Friday confirmed its 10-year contract extension with Adidas, and UL will receive $10M in "base compensation" between '18-21 and then $7M per year from '21-28, according to Jeff Greer of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. Those are "significant increases" over the current contract, which has a maximum base compensation of $1.575M that is due over this coming academic year. The deal also includes $3M in "activation fees" from '18-21 and then $1M from '21-28. The contract stipulates those funds should be used for UL's athletics "marketing internship partnership with Adidas and 'strategic brand initiatives.'" Adidas will provide UL with $6M in what it defines as "Adidas products" over the next two years, then $6.1M from '20-23, then $6.2M from '23-28. The performance bonus structure "appears to be the same" that it was in the '14 apparel deal. This deal was the "latest blockbuster deal in a series of new apparel contracts that have significantly upped the money involved in college sports sponsorships." Nebraska, which recently approved an 11-year, $128M deal worth $64M in cash and $64.7M in apparel, is Adidas' "second leading client" behind UL. Miami (12 years, $93.6M) and Texas A&M (eight years, $56.8M) are third and fourth. Louisville's new deal comes at a time when tensions around the university have "heightened in the wake of a stinging forensic audit," a reworked KFC Yum! Center lease agreement and the NCAA's Committee on Infractions ruling in the men's basketball case. Asked if the extension eased some of his frustrations over the new Yum Center lease, Louisville AD Tom Jurich "flatly said no" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 8/26).
HIS BEST MOVE YET: In Louisville, Eric Crawford wrote the deal is "right up there" on Jurich's list of accomplishments with getting into the ACC. The deal with Adidas is "more valuable than the apparel deals at every school in the nation except for UCLA, Ohio State and Texas." Jurich has "dealt Louisville into the top echelon of college with a major international corporation through creativity and hard work, and despite some negatives in the past couple of years that could easily have scared away sponsors" (WDRB.com, 8/25).
