The Univ. of AZ (UA) has signed a five-year, $7M
contract with Nike that puts a "'swoosh' on nearly every
athlete's uniform and boosts coaches' salaries" by $435,000
a year, according to Pila Martinez of the ARIZONA DAILY
STAR. The university, however, "can call off the deal if an
outside monitor finds faults with Nike's labor practices in
overseas plants and the company fails to fix them."
Martinez reports that Nike and UA will jointly select the
monitor "but have not decided who will pay the cost." Nike
Manager of U.S. Corporate Communications Dave Mingey: "We're
very comfortable with the deal." Nike will give UA $1.424M
in merchandise and cash annually for five years. In
addition to the compensation for coaches and athletic
administrators, Nike will contribute about $100,000 to
student programs (Pila Martinez, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 9/1).
SOMETHING BIG A'BRUIN: In the SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL,
Liz Mullen reports that sources put adidas' six-year deal
with UCLA at "more than" $18M in cash, products and other
in-kind contributions (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/31 issue).
