Colorado State University’s athletic department announced a five-year contract with Under Armour Tuesday, extending its current agreement with company to be the exclusive outfitter for CSU’s athletics programs through 2021.
CSU’s previous agreement ran for three years, with the athletic department receiving $100,000 each year for apparel and equipment for CSU’s athletics teams. Past the $100,000 spending limit, CSU had to buy its own gear from Under Armour for a discounted price.
The new deal totals $11 million over five years, with CSU receiving around $2 million per year. Of the $11 million, $10.8 million will go toward apparel and equipment, while the other $200,000 will be spent on branding.
Under Armour will continue to exclusively design and supply the gameday uniforms, as well as footwear, apparel and training equipment for each of Colorado State’s 16 men’s and women’s varsity athletics teams beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Previously, CSU’s football uniforms were a part of a “stock package,” where the team got the most basic version of Under Armour jerseys, only customized with CSU’s colors and logos. Under the new deal, CSU has moved up to the next “tier” of uniforms, allowing them to work with Under Armour to create their own custom home and away uniforms.
The company will also provide alternate gameday uniforms for the Rams’ football program, expanding upon the special “Orange Out” uniforms UA has supplied for the annual Ag Day game. CSU will also be able to collaborate on three specialty alternate jerseys over the next five years with UA.
“They’ll be transitioning us to a custom fit partnership where their design team will come in, and in partnership with us, really design from the ground up our uniforms,” CSU athletic director Joe Parker said. “It’ll have a look specific to Colorado State, as far as the panel cuts and everything else.”
According to the Parker, CSU will continue to be integrated into the brand’s overall storytelling efforts, including branding support for the new on-campus stadium projected to be completed in the fall of 2017, as well as social media initiatives, in-store promotions and grassroots activities to help support retail distribution of CSU apparel.
“There a space in the area that we will call the “Hall of Champions” that will be the premium entrance (to the stadium,” Parker said. “That’s where we’ll highlight some of the accomplishments of football and our other programs, and there’s actually six bays in that space, and in one of those bays, we want to advertise our Under Armour area. In our player lounge and recruiting area for our students, we want to do the same thing. We want to feature our Under Armour relationship, and there an entry for the coaches’ office suites where we want to do that.”
Under Armour, founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, has become one of the primary contenders in the apparel business behind footwear and apparel giant Nike.
Under Armour’s other clients include the University of Notre Dame, University of Wisconsin, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland, Auburn University, Utah University, Northwestern University, Boston College and the University of South Carolina.
“We are so proud to extend our partnership with CSU for the next five years, developing and designing innovative training and game day gear for the Rams,” Nick Carparelli, Under Armour’s Senior Director for Collegiate Sports Marketing, said in a joint press release. “We look forward to many years of continued success in our partnership driven by the University’s strong commitment to their athletic programs.”
Collegian Senior Sports Reporter Keegan Pope can be reached at kpope@collegian.com and on Twitter @ByKeeganPope.
