College sports' 20 most lucrative apparel deals: Penn State, Tennessee anchor Adidas' surge, Nike second
Which apparel companies are paying college athletic programs the most?
• 2 min read
Major apparel companies are shelling out record-setting dollars in the fight to outfit the biggest brands in college sports and it's becoming increasingly more expensive to do so.
Paying for visibility, brand recognition and access to passionate fan bases is the objective for Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas and Under Armour. Those four apparel and uniform suppliers make up nearly all of the Power Four this season, with Boston College being the lone exception with New Balance.
The monopoly of sorts begins with Nike and Adidas, the two major players who dominated the Big Ten and SEC. Every nationally televised matchup doubles as a commercial for these brands, not to mention social media impact, views and impressions.
For athletic departments, these relationships represent valuable revenue in a sport where the cost of staying competitive keeps climbing with NIL and revenue share. But which schools command the biggest checks?
Via analytical data from Profluence, college sports' 20 most lucrative apparel deals highlight the heavyweight partnerships within the Power Four that reveal just how much the biggest brands value a prominent place on the uniform.
CBS Sports independently corroborated this information for accuracy.
Penn State and Tennessee are the biggest programs to announce new apparel agreements this season, debuting uniforms and altered looks across their respective athletic departments as part of record-setting deals with Adidas. Over the next decade, the Nittany Lions and Volunteers will command more than $50 million annually combined to don the three stripes brand.
Ole Miss announced earlier this month it was moving away from Nike in favor of Adidas in an annual agreement that is expected to exceed Miami's upcoming deal with the Swoosh. Per 247Sports, the move will end a relationship between Ole Miss and Nike that began in 1999.
The Rebels signed their current agreement with Nike in 2015.
Miami's upcoming deal with Nike ends a 12-year partnership with Adidas and brings the Hurricanes back to the Swoosh. Miami's first deal with Nike in the 1980s was a trend-setter at the time as one of the first partnerships of its kind.
Most lucrative college apparel deals
School | Provider | Annual avg. payout | Expiration |
1) Penn State | Adidas | June 2036 | |
T2) Tennessee | Adidas | June 2036 | |
T2) Miami | Nike | Starts July 2027 | |
T2) Ole Miss | Adidas | Starts July 2027 | |
5) Georgia Tech | Under Armour | June 2036 | |
6) Ohio State | Nike | June 2033 | |
7) Texas | Nike | June 2029 | |
8) Louisville | Adidas | June 2028 | |
9) Kansas | Adidas | June 2031 | |
10) Washington | Adidas | June 2029 |
Schools slotted just outside of the top 10 include Nebraska (Adidas, $11.7M); Michigan (Jordan, $11.5M); Wisconsin (Under Armour, $10.4M); UCLA (Jordan, $10.2M); Notre Dame (Under Armour, $10M); North Carolina (Jordan, $9.5M); Texas A&M (Adidas, $9.4M); Maryland (Under Armour, $8.1M); Oregon (Nike, $8M); and South Carolina (Nike, $7.7M).
Nike's current agreements with Alabama, Auburn, Florida and LSU are undisclosed. Alabama and LSU are also part of the Nike Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program, which Nike states "reimagines the NIL space by providing leading athletes and universities an unmatched level of collaboration that prioritizes the future of sport and athlete identity."
Several South Carolina athletes are part of the Blue Ribbon Elite program following the Gamecocks' move to Nike earlier this summer after more than a decade with Under Armour.
Kansas (Adidas) and Notre Dame (Under Armour) are the only Power programs inside the top-20 national in highest annual average payout that are not members of the SEC, Big Ten or ACC.
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