The $160M partnership between Adidas and the Univ. of Louisville was "one of the largest all-school sponsorship agreements" in the brand's history, a deal which would give Adidas "access not only to the university's amateur athletes but also to the business, law and music schools to help create and market new products," according to Fainaru & Fainaru-Wada of ESPN THE MAGAZINE. For its part, UL vowed to "write the next chapter for college athletics, for streetwear and fashion." But on Sept. 26, a "different blockbuster deal" between Adidas and UL was revealed after the FBI announced a "sweeping corruption investigation into college basketball." Since that day, "nothing has been the same" at UL. The Adidas partnership was supposed to be a "crowning achievement that validated the university as a national power." The agreement represented an "undeniable windfall," but to some it also "exploited the athletes it purported to benefit." When the Adidas contract was announced, it "marked the ultimate realization" of then-UL AD Tom Jurich's "dream to build a national power." Now, to many, it "symbolizes something entirely different: the corruption of a public university." Jurich "embarked on an ambitious growth strategy" that would "build up nonrevenue sports such as swimming and soccer while ensuring that the basketball and football teams were successful enough to support the enterprise." The strategy "required prodigious cash," and by this year, UL's athletics budget was up to $104.5M. The athletic department's "unfettered growth was undented" by some scandals that "occurred under Jurich's watch." But Adidas "didn't seem to care much" about the scandals. As UL became "more successful, the value went up." In '14, Adidas and UL "signed a five-year," $39M extension. The Adidas deal "quadrupled the company's commitment" to UL in cash and gear and was a "huge bet on Jurich's vision" (ESPN THE MAGAZINE, 12/25 issue).
