NC State Signs Extension With Adidas, Receiving $7M

April 25, 2012 /
Triangle Business Journal, Jason deBruyn

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2012/04/ncsu-gets-7m-to-adorn-adidas-brand.html

After months of negotiations, North Carolina State University’s  Department of Athletics has signed a contract extension with Adidas.

The four-year contract will guarantee N.C. State at least $7 million in cash and apparel and could be more, depending on licensing revenue. In each of the four years, the university will receive $425,000 in cash and a minimum guarantee of $75,000 in licensing revenue. In addition Adidas guarantees $1.2 million in apparel the first year, $1.25 million the second year and $1.3 million in the third and fourth years.

If N.C. State needs any additional apparel, it can purchase clothing and equipment at 10 percent below the wholesale price, but Assistant Athletic Director Chris Kingston says he doubts the Wolfpack will need to go above the contract threshold.

The contract applies to all sports in which Adidas provides a product, making N.C. State the first ACC school to have an all-sport deal with Adidas and only the 13th university in major college sports. The deal is exclusive, meaning all N.C. State athletes will wear only Adidas with only very few exceptions. For example, Adidas does not make competition swim gear, so the swim and diving teams will still wear Speedo, and the baseball team has an existing contract with Louisville Slugger for bats.

“If they don’t make it, obviously we will have a different provider,” Kingston says. “But it will be mostly Adidas. … For example, you won’t see a Nike cleat out there.”

In January, some college sports analysts expressed some concern that Adidas would have difficulty meeting demands for the fall season because orders are typically made at least six months in advance.

Even with fall sports like football and soccer just around the corner, Kingston is not concerned about having apparel on hand. Because of the lengthy negotiating process, Adidas had been planning ahead, he says.


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