Los Angeles, Ca – UCLA Athletics has taken a giant step with new apparel deal with Under Armour. Their official contract is not due to start until July 1st, 2017. At today’s press conference you could see smiles all around with a great university & great brand joining forces at the tune of $280 Million dollars over 15 years. Ucla Athletic Director Dan Guerrero along with founder CEO Under Armour Kevin Plank address those in attendance.
As part of the partnership, Under Armour will exclusively design and supply the footwear, apparel and equipment for training and game-day uniforms for all 25 of the university’s men’s and women’s varsity athletic teams. This is the largest apparel deal in the history of the NCAA, reaffirming UCLA’s status as a world-class institution and Under Armour’s position as a global leader committed to collegiate athletics. So fitting for the first school who was the first to win 100 National Championships with 113 and counting.
This is not the first time UCLA went shopping like a NFL free agent to test the market. Back in mid 90’s Reebok was able to lure UCLA away from Adidas for most major athletic sports but Soccer was among the teams that stuck with Adidas. UCLA Football coach was Terry Donahue back then during those contract talks. The players knew something was brewing and some players wanted a switch to Nike. Donahue said, “If Nike wants to pay us for wearing their shoes…” He knew then UCLA had the name and the marketing power to be paid and respected as the best.
So true to form UCLA make the correct call aligning themselves with a company that truly understands what this schools bring to the table. Under Armour now has a flagship school on the West Coast for the Maryland Based Brand. They now have three school in the PAC-12 UCLA, Utah & Cal Berkeley.
Time for the Bruin Fans to get geared up, don’t worry Tradition will stay intact with little cutting edge innovation. BE READY!
