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Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Nike, Michigan ink
$169 million deal
The agreement
creates the largest
college apparel deal
in the country
By ZACH SHAW
Summer Managing Sports Editor
One week after announcing
that it had agreed to a record-high
apparel deal with Nike, the Michi-
gan Athletic Department released
details this morning about the
overwhelmingly popular contract.
The highlight of the agreement
is that Michigan will receive $169
million over the duration of the
15-year contract,
including $76.8
million in cash
alone, $12 mil-
lion in upfront
money and $80.2
million in appar-
el.
The
deal
blows past the
10-year,
$90
million contract
Notre
Dame
signed with Under Armour ear-
lier this year as the largest in the
country. But with Adidas, Under
Armour and Nike all offering simi-
lar amounts of money, cash was
only one step of the five-month
process that saw Nike emerge as
the obvious choice.
“This decision, this partner-
ship is about more than Michigan
athletics,” said Interim Athletic
Director Jim Hackett. “At the core,
it is about our University com-
munity and it is
about two great
names reuniting
for an opportu-
nity that speaks
to
more
than
uniforms
and
apparel.”
Michigan
football,
men’s
basketball
and
women’s
bas-
ketball were listed as the three
flagship sports in the deal, while
baseball, hockey and softball will
continue to have equipment pro-
vided from third parties. In total
11 sports will continue to use their
current equipment providers, so
long as that provider isn’t Adidas,
Under Armour, Reebok or Puma.
Also included in the deal are
plans to expand the partnership
beyond apparel. The initial agree-
ment includes an obligation for
Nike to hire at least three summer
interns from the University each
year at $15,000 per student, and
two community events to be host-
ed in Ann Arbor each year.
According to the Term Sheet,
Michigan and Nike also have
a “shared interest and goal of
improving working conditions in
the subcontracted factories used
to make (Nike) product.” This
clause is largely in response to
community outcry in the past over
Nike’s reputation for low-wage
sweatshops.
Mentioned
in another seg-
ment of the Term
Sheet
released
Wednesday are
tentative
but
unspecified
plans for Michi-
gan
and
Nike
to
collaborate
in
“furthering
research
and
innovation in regards to sport
performance and (environmen-
tal) sustainability.” Language was
included in the contract to include
Michigan’s Recreational Sports
Department in such collaborations.
“The University of Michigan
ranks high among the world’s great
institutions of higher learning and
enjoys a rich, tradition-laden histo-
ry in college sports,” said Joaquin
Hidalgo, Vice President and Gen-
eral Manager, Nike North America
in
last
week’s
announcement.
“We
eagerly
look
forward
to bringing out
the best in each
other.”
In
addition
to
shattering
the record for
the largest deal
in NCAA his-
tory, Michigan will also receive
15-percent royalty rates on appar-
el purchases. This exceeds the
10-percent
Michigan
currently
receives in its deal with Adidas,
passes Notre Dame’s 13-percent
and is believed to be the highest in
the country.
“It is about two
great names
reuniting for an
opporunity.”
Michigan will
also receive
15-percent
royalty rates.
Student tickets up 54 percent
By ZACH SHAW
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Less than a day after reveal-
ing it had sealed the largest
apparel deal in college sports
history, the Michigan Athletic
Department revealed more good
news for the program Thursday.
After a 2014 season marred
by national embarrassments,
student protests, a resigning
Athletic Director and a losing
season, Michigan announced
that it has ended season ticket
sales for the 2015 season at
89,795, the highest total since
2012.
After selling just 11,597 stu-
dent tickets last season — its
lowest total in decades — Michi-
gan has announced a 54-percent
sales increase, capping student
ticket sales at 17,899.
With home games against
both Michigan State and Ohio
State and the hotly-anticipated
debut of Michigan coach and
former star quarterback Jim
Harbaugh, it’s no surprise that
ticket sales are up. But after giv-
ing away nearly 63,000 tickets
in seven home games last season
— including 16,923 in the team’s
home finale against Maryland —
to keep the program’s 100,000-
fan attendance streak alive, the
increase in sales is a welcome
sign for Michigan nonetheless.
The sales increase is most
notable in the student section,
where sales have fluctuated
from record lows to the high-
est total since 2012. There are
many factors to such a rise, but
price stands as the most notable
change.
After charging students $295
for tickets the previous two
seasons, the standard season
ticket price for football fell to
$175. In addition to the nearly
40-percent discount, the Ath-
letic Department announced in
February that need-based stu-
dent tickets would be available
for $100.
All three price points are
lower than that of men’s bas-
ketball season tickets, which
remained the same at $200 and
offered $120 need-based tickets.
Per-game prices, however, are
still highest in football at $25
per game.
Student
seating
will
be
assigned based on attendance at
the 2014 season’s games, with
the policy rewarding better seats
in 2015 to students who attended
at least six games last fall and
arrived more than 20 minutes
before kickoff. The policy change
comes after a shift to a general
admission model prior to the
2013 season, which was met with
uproar by the student body.
Non-student
sales
also
increased to 72,076, the most sold
since before renovations began in
2009.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan Athletic Department announced total season tickets sales reached 89,795, the highest since 2012.