Kansas is apparently able to look past scandal as the school has renewed its contract with Adidas through the year 2031.
Here are details from KU:
Kansas Athletics on Wednesday morning announced that it had agreed to extend its contract with footwear and apparel partner Adidas through 2031.
KU’s most recent contract with Adidas was slated to expire at the end of June. And the new deal, which has been signed and is listed to have begun with the 2017-18 academic year, runs for a total of 14 years at a price tag of $196 million, or $14 million annually.
According to a news release announcing the extension, KU and Adidas are building “a comprehensive, institutional approach unlike any other apparel agreement in the country.”
KU chancellor Douglas Girod said the move “strengthens our university and better enables us to fulfill our mission in education, outreach and research.”
“Both we and adidas have done our due diligence and thoroughly evaluated all factors related to this partnership, including the current environment related to college basketball,” Girod said. “We are confident about this renewed partnership and look forward to continuing our relationship with adidas.”
According to a report from Forbes magazine, KU’s new deal puts Kansas at the top of the list among apparel deals in college athletics.
In 2018, Forbes listed UCLA’s deal with Under Armour, of just under $13 million, as the highest. Louisville and Adidas, at just under $11 million, and Texas and Nike, just under $10 million, rounded out the top three.
“I think that speaks to the brand of not only Kansas Athletics but also the University of Kansas, as well,” KU athletic director Jeff Long said during a conference call with reporters shortly after the extension was announced. “Our goal was not to go into this to get one of the highest (deals), but we did expect that our brand and our success and our university would command among the highest.”
According to Forbes, KU’s previous deal ranked 14th in 2018.
According to the contract acquired by the Journal-World, KU will receive $11 million in base compensation in both the 2019-20 academic year and the 2020-21 academic year.
From there, the base compensation figure dips to a value between $4 million and $5.3 million for the remainder of the contract.
Long said those details were carried over from previous negotiations.
Of the $14 million average annual value, Long said $6.5 million was pegged for product allowance for KU’s 18 varsity sports, with another $1 million annually going toward product marketing. In keeping with the theme of doubling what they had, that number is up from the previous value of just under $3 million for similar services.
Although Long said the goal all along was to complete the deal and stay with Adidas because of KU’s longstanding relationship with the company, he added that KU did listen to other pitches from other apparel companies, none of which were named.
“We did check out all of those that were interested in the University of Kansas,” Long said. “Any time you enter into a contract of this nature and this length and this monetary reward attached to it, we did our due diligence, we went through all the options that were available to us, explored everything and arrived at the decision that Adidas was the best option for us.”
Stay in touch with KUsports.com for more on this story throughout the day.
