The Athletics Department announced yesterday it has signed a five-year deal with Under Armour Inc. stipulating the athletic-wear company founded by university alumnus Kevin Plank (class of 1992) will provide uniforms, shoes and apparel for all 27 varsity teams.
Athletics Director Debbie Yow said at a news conference yesterday the contract will provide the department with $2 million in various apparel products and $1.5 million in cash per year, for a total of $17.5 million over the five-year period. The contract can also be extended for two additional years.
“There’s an old coaching saying that goes something like this: ‘Good, better best. Never let it rest until your good becomes better and your better is the best,'” Yow said. “I say that as an old basketball coach, and that’s what we think we’ve done. We think we have the best in apparel-provider, and it’s just going to be an amazing relationship.”
Under Armour previously had contracts with the football, men’s soccer, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams, Senior Associate Athletics Director Chris Boyer said. Boyer said the outfitting deal officially starts Jan. 1, 2009 but most teams will be in Under Armour-tailored uniforms starting this fall.
Under Armour Director of Communications Diane Pelkey wrote in an e-mail yesterday the agreement with the university is “the first school deal of this magnitude” for the company, which is based in Baltimore.
At yesterday’s news conference, university President Dan Mote, football coach Ralph Friedgen, men’s basketball coach Gary Williams, women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese and Yow all stood by as Plank unveiled the new uniforms for the three teams. Both Williams and Frese remarked after the conference that they were pleased with the level of input Under Armour let them have in creating the new uniforms.
Plank emphasized the company’s existing connection with the Athletics Department and said after the news conference that he viewed the relationship as a mutually beneficial partnership, allowing Under Armour to use the connection to “prototype and test” new products on university athletes.
“On a personal note, it’s a real coming home,” said Plank, who played football at this university and founded Under Armour during his senior year at the business school. “It’s a big deal. What I told Debbie throughout the whole negotiation was, ‘Product is one thing, money is another thing, but the fact of the matter is when Maryland wins, it just makes me happy’.”
While most teams will sport Under Armour jerseys in the near future, many will need to wait on footwear. According to Boyer, the company does not yet make athletic shoes for volleyball, wrestling and competitive cheer, and men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, tennis, golf and cross country and won’t provide footwear for those sports for the coming school year. Additionally, the company does not yet manufacture uniforms for competitive cheer, gymnastics, swimming or water polo.
The teams for which Under Armour does not provide footwear or uniforms will continue making deals for those products individually with providers, Boyer said, as teams did prior to this agreement. Under the contract, however, Under Armour retains the right to begin outfitting those teams with footwear or uniforms once Under Armour starts making them. Pelkey wrote in an e-mail that the company has set up a timeline for completely outfitting all 27 teams but didn’t specify dates as to when each team would receive the uniforms and footwear.
Despite the delay some teams will face in obtaining Under Armour uniforms and footwear, Yow said she was very pleased with the way the negotiations turned out.
“Love that it’s Under Armour. Love the quality of the product. Love the fact that it’s the brand that people in their teens and 20s wear now,” Yow said. “It’s just the right time to be doing this. It doesn’t hurt that Kevin played football for us and is an alum, so off the field it’s very personal.”
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