Rutgers' new apparel deal with adidas will be worth more than $11M "during the six-year contract," even though the school "doesn’t have the most attractive brand at the moment," according to J.P. Pelzman of the ASBURY PARK PRESS. The $11M figure is "dwarfed by some of the apparel agreements reached by other universities," as Rutgers is still "trying to rebound from scandals in recent years involving the men’s basketball team under Mike Rice and the football team under Kyle Flood." The base value of the deal is $1.7M for the '17-18 academic year, rising to $1.8M by year six of the contract. Other terms include adidas "paying Rutgers $300,000 in additional product allotment in year one because the uniforms for all athletic teams will have to be altered as a result of the change in apparel companies." The school also "had conversations with Under Armour and Nike." Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs said that he is "excited about the fact that Adidas plans to make Rutgers a 'priority,' pointing toward the 'Adidas NYC' flagship store that opened in Manhattan last fall" (ASBURY PARK PRESS, 2/15). In Newark, Keith Sargeant noted there is "no clause that requires Rutgers or adidas to renegotiate the deal at any point of the six-year deal," and Hobbs "expressed confidence that the two sides will have a long-term future" beyond '23-24 (NJ.com, 2/14).
APPAREL BREAKDOWN: CAMPUS INSIDERS' Kurt Schwerman looked into how adidas, Nike and UA "rank in terms of the number of Power Five schools that they sponsor." Among the 65 Power Five schools in the NCAA, including Notre Dame, almost 68% (44 schools) are "set to wear Nike" for the '17-18 school year. Both adidas and UA have "exactly 10 deals in place with Power Five schools." Georgia Tech -- aligned with Russell Athletic -- is the "only Power 5 school to not wear one of those brands." Nike currently owns "three of the top five largest apparel contracts in college athletics" with Ohio State, Texas and Michigan. The "single largest contract in college sports" belongs to UCLA and UA, who last year inked a 15 year partnership worth $18.67M annually (CAMPUSINSIDERS.com, 2/14).
