There’s been buzz across the internet and on campus about a new deal with Under Armour starting next year. On January 10, an unnamed source told Sports Illustrated that Notre Dame was set to sign a deal with Under Armour. In the article, it said that representatives visited campus on Thursday, but that no official agreement had been announced. But now that’s all changed.
Ah, beautiful.
Fun fact: Among the many ways I occupy my time, one of my favorite is giving tours on campus. To my surprise (and excitement!), I showed up to the JACC yesterday to give a tour to the creative designer for Under Armour, Adam Clement. He was visiting with several other members of the company. I showed him around all of the usual highlights (dome, grotto, library, stadium) and he told me how Under Armour likes to incorporate aspects of the schools into their designs. His parting words to me were “Remember the Dome” and I can only assume it will be making an appearance in the designs for the football team’s uniforms next year. At the time, no official announcement has been made yet, but I reasoned that no one reads 300 pages of Wikipedia for a project that isn’t going to happen. Clearly, from the huge hype and shock going around campus, this project has materialized into the largest college deal of its kind in history.
So what’s the big deal? Adidas versus Under Armour, they’re similar enough right? Not quite. Notre Dame’s partnership with Adidas dates back to 1997. In 2005, Notre Dame signed a 10-year deal with Adidas which is about to expire. The reason Notre Dame is breaking with Adidas has to do with the contract that Adidas signed with Michigan. (Rivalries don’t just occur on the field, but also in the sales world). Michigan’s new contract with Adidas has a clause that keeps them on top with Adidas (so Notre Dame contractually cannot surpass them). Nike wasn’t an option, because of all the money being thrown at Oregon. So that leaves Under Armour as the next big player.
Under Armour currently outfits 10 schools: Auburn, Hawaii, Maryland, Texas Tech, Boston College, Utah, Northwestern, St. John’s, South Florida and South Carolina. Of those, BC is the only other team in the ACC (Maryland is leaving the conference) and Northwestern is the only school located in the Midwest. So Notre Dame isn’t quite the usual school for Under Armour, but I can tell you that everyone from Under Armour was super excited about getting to design new gear for Notre Dame.
The financial implications of this deal are huge, not just for Notre Dame, but for Under Armour. According to Forbes, the Notre Dame football team is valued at $117 million (which puts us behind only the University of Texas, whose football team is worth about $139 million). Notre Dame has unsurprisingly sold a lot of apparel in the last few years. According to the Collegiate Licensing Company, Notre Dame has ranked third for merchandizing sales the past two years. In 2011, Notre Dame ranked ninth and in 2010, they were ranked eleventh. That’s a lot of hoodies (of course making it to the National Championship last year certainly didn’t hurt)!
Since 1999, Nike has traditionally had the highest sales (2010 and 2011 being exceptions). If you rank teams by their sales, the top 15 schools by merchandise sales are all Nike or Adidas schools. Under Armour finally appears at 16 with the University of South Carolina. There has been speculation that an Under Armour deal with Notre Dame will help Under Armour become a leading apparel provider for collegiate academics in the future. According to an article posted on Daily Finance, Under Armour’s revenue and stock prices have increased significantly in recent years. Under Armour’s revenue growth has even surpassed that of Nike!
So in less numerical terms, the big deal about which brand we’re wearing is more than just how awesome our uniforms look or how warm the hoodies you can get in the bookstore will be. It’s going to be a big revenue increase for Under Armour and I’d be willing to bet that Under Armour will be signing a deal with Notre Dame that guarantees us the top spot. Notre Dame may also be starting a new trend among other universities. If Under Armour apparel sells well at Notre Dame (and let’s be honest, it’s going to, because I always need a new sweatshirt to keep me warm under the permacloud), then I’d guess some of our rivals may also switch to Under Armour. Be on the lookout for awesome new gear next year, because who doesn’t need an excuse to visit the bookstore!
#neverforget.