Under Armour accepted a 15-year contract with UCLA in 2016 that was the richest shoe and apparel sponsorship in college sports history, changing a deal the Bruins formerly accepted Adidas that ended in the summer of 2017. The deal gave Under Armour a flagship program on the West Coast while offering UCLA with a massive infusion of money and athletic apparel.
As part of the contract, Under Armour paid UCLA $15 million up front in addition to roughly $11 million each year in rights and marketing costs. The garments business likewise accepted supply the school with approximately $7.4 million in clothing, shoes and equipment each academic year while contributing $2 million over an eight-year span toward athletic center upgrades.
Should UCLA and Under Armour part ways, the school would seek a new apparel deal, most likely with one of the other significant gamers in sportswear. UCLA had fielded deals from Nike and Adidas before selecting Under Armour 4 years ago.
New UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond recognizes with Under Armour, having dealt with the clothing business as part of its sponsorship of Boston Colleges athletic groups when he was the Eagles athletic director. Jarmond teamed with the company to produce the Martin Jarmond Collection of Boston College-themed sportswear.
Under Armour has informed UCLA that it wants to end the record-setting $280-million deal the clothing giant signed with the school in 2016, a potentially economically crippling relocation that the Bruins intend to combat.
In a letter to UCLA constituents, outbound athletic director Dan Guerrero wrote that “we are checking out all of our alternatives to resist Under Armours actions and will share more info as we can. We wish to assure you that UCLA Athletics remains committed to providing our hard-working personnel and student-athletes with the footwear, clothing and devices required to compete and train at the greatest level.”
Any loss of earnings would be two times as devastating to a UCLA athletic department already facing an enormous spending plan deficit even before the pandemic caused the cancellation of spring sports and threatened the fall sports calendar. The department handled an interest-bearing loan from the university to cover an $18.9-million deficiency for the 2019 fiscal year and is expected to go even more into the red in 2020.
