ESPN’s Darren Rovell broke the news that Notre Dame will be leaving Adidas as their exclusive athletic apparel provider for Under Armour at the end of the current academic year. While the exact contract deals aren’t known, the deal will cover all Irish athletics and I’m sure it will involve a truckload of cash and likely Notre Dame being the premier Under Armour school as it once was for Adidas.
And really, that’s why you should be excited about this move. Current Under Armour FBS schools are: Auburn, Hawaii, Maryland, Texas Tech, Boston College, Utah, Northwestern, South Florida and South Carolina. There are some good teams in there, but none with the brand recognition and national fan base that Notre Dame brings to the table along with their 126 years of football history. Under Armour’s founder, Kevin Plank, is from Maryland, but I seriously doubt ND signs any deal that would put Maryland above them.
With Adidas, Michigan had that wonderful clause that forced them into top dog status for life. With Nike, there is no way we would ever eclipse the money thrown at Oregon.
Under Armour in comparison is a young company that is begging for a high-profile school to throw money at. When I attended this year’s title game in Pasadena (reminder: sister currently attends Auburn), I saw loads of Auburn signs and ads with Under Armour sponsoring and branding. In comparison, the Nike/FSU presence was non-existent.
Further, for people worried UA will turn ND into some kind of crazy uniform experiment grounds, note that Auburn hasn’t strayed from their traditional look. Likewise, South Carolina hasn’t strayed far as well. UA will get the Shamrock Series as their one experiment, so I have no doubt the traditional home/away look will be hands off.
Personally, I love the move, not just for the above reasons, but I’ve always preferred Under Armour gear while I was playing baseball back when they just did sleeves/cold weather gear. Having seen the kind of things that they have available at Auburn now, I’ve definitely been impressed.
Plus, all my manager issued gear from Adidas is starting to wear out and I need some new stuff. I have a feeling Under Armour will be taking quite a bit of money from me very soon.
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- Epilogue - January 3, 2022
- HLS Podcast Finale - January 2, 2022
- The Final Fiesta: Notre Dame vs Oklahoma State NCAA ’14 Sim - December 31, 2021
Mark Pickett (@Picked_Off)
I know some people are going to get their compression gear in a bunch over this, but I really like the move. I’ve never been a fan of the cookie-cutter Adidas gear over the past few years. I don’t see the main jerseys changing, but the alternates could be interesting.
George
I’m an Auburn guy and stumbled across this. Under Armour is nice for football, but I think it hurts Auburn’s basketball recruiting. The shoe companies have more influence on basketball recruits by sponsoring camps and AAU teams and such, and they steer recruits to schools with their brand. About 80% of the top 100 recruits go to Nike schools. Though, since ND has been non-Nike (adidas), it may not notice much difference.