Nike and Illinois agree to 10-year extension through 2025-2026

#26      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
CIIF said:
Should we have waited until we had our permanent AD in placed to negotiate this contract?
Click to expand...

Based on no inside information, my guess is that Nike wanted to get this horse in the barn without it going out for bids to competitors and such and sweetened the pot a bit to get it done when they did.

The idea of a shiny new deal with Adidas or Under Armour for slightly more more money stirs feelings of shaking things up and making changes that are appealing when the whole program is in the gutter, but the reality is still that Nike is the gold standard and this deal might not have been on the table if we solicited other offers and they weren't to our liking.
 
#28      

Fillory

F
4th Floor Grainger
Fillory
Second and Chalmers said:
Based on no inside information, my guess is that Nike wanted to get this horse in the barn without it going out for bids to competitors and such and sweetened the pot a bit to get it done when they did.

The idea of a shiny new deal with Adidas or Under Armour for slightly more more money stirs feelings of shaking things up and making changes that are appealing when the whole program is in the gutter, but the reality is still that Nike is the gold standard and this deal might not have been on the table if we solicited other offers and they weren't to our liking.
Click to expand...

My partner is an Aggie and their Adidas deal is great, but if your program lacks a truly classic uniform, the output from Adidas/UA just aren't as strong as Nike. Adidas in particular is notorious for hosing up great uniforms.
 
#29      

Oskee67

Oskee67
Champaign
Oskee67
If we waited to sign this deal until after the Lovie signing, would we have received a better offer? I still don't fully understand how this was given the go-ahead weeks before JFW was hired.
 
#31      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
IlliniBrave75 said:
I know some have mentioned moving away from Nike, but did any of you see this reported?

Jeff Borzello Retweeted
Darren Rovell ‏@darrenrovell 25m25 minutes ago
BREAKING: Under Armour, UCLA sign largest shoe & apparel deal in college history -- 15 years, $280Mhttp://es.pn/1syRFFQ
Click to expand...

It's interesting that these deals haven't really exploded until apparently now.

In European Soccer, apparel deals have been a huge part of clubs budgets for awhile now and the massive inequality between those deals is a big driver of the competitive inequality on the field. That's a sport in which labor is compensated for their contributions in a free market, something unknown to the United States, let alone the NCAA, so it's a little different, but something to consider nonetheless.
 
#32      

midastouch11

midastouch11
New York, New York
midastouch11
Second and Chalmers said:
It's interesting that these deals haven't really exploded until apparently now.

In European Soccer, apparel deals have been a huge part of clubs budgets for awhile now and the massive inequality between those deals is a big driver of the competitive inequality on the field. That's a sport in which labor is compensated for their contributions in a free market, something unknown to the United States, let alone the NCAA, so it's a little different, but something to consider nonetheless.
Click to expand...

It's certainly where it's headed, and Under Armour dishing out huge money like this is only going to up the Nike and Adidas ante for any schools with contracts up. On Tay and Jay yesterday Josh Whitman said he'd be dropping by Nike this weekend during his Men's Golf trip. In the meantime, keep shopping everyone.

http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pw/illinois-fighting-illini/80oZ8i0?
 
#33      

Epsilon

Epsilon
M tipping over
Pdx
Epsilon
Second and Chalmers said:
It's interesting that these deals haven't really exploded until apparently now.

In European Soccer, apparel deals have been a huge part of clubs budgets for awhile now and the massive inequality between those deals is a big driver of the competitive inequality on the field. That's a sport in which labor is compensated for their contributions in a free market, something unknown to the United States, let alone the NCAA, so it's a little different, but something to consider nonetheless.
Click to expand...

And they pay their players more than they can afford to.
 
#34      

Second and Chalmers

S
Second and Chalmers
YOU GUYS GUESS WHAT I JUST SAW

IMG_0443.jpg


Illini stuff at Niketown in Chicago!

I almost fell over.
 
#36      

AaronB28

A
AaronB28
I think our rebrand was dull and rushed...though better than the previous units we couda at least outdid Syracuse...... Their units are better to me
 
#39      

IlliniCaboose

IlliniCaboose
IlliniCaboose
AaronB28 said:
Lol I'm just not feeling it...and our white helmets feel so Penn statish to me...lol
Click to expand...
Agreed, hate the white helmets, especially when used with the white pants. Zook and Beckman both used entirely too much white.
But if you think those horrific new Syracuse unis with those almost unreadable numbers and god-awful color fade helmets are better than ours you're crazy.