UH and Under Armour make deal
By Dave Reardon
This information is from a release from Under Armour.
The University of Hawaii and Under Armour, Inc. today announced a multi-faceted eight-year partnership that designates Under Armour as the performance apparel and footwear outfitter for the University of Hawaii Warrior football team. In addition to providing technologically advanced performance apparel and footwear, the partnership includes Under Armour marketing rights.
The partnership is slated to begin in July. In addition to the Warriors, the brand has official outfitter relationships in The Atlantic Coast Conference, The Big 12, and The Southeastern Conference, including agreements with USC and Auburn.
“We’re thrilled to add Hawaii to the very select list of football programs we’re outfitting,” said Kevin Plank, Under Armour Chairman and CEO. “We identified UH as a team we wanted to outfit with our state-of-the-art performance apparel, uniforms and footwear, and we look forward to giving their student-athletes an advantage on field while also using the relationship to showcase our latest innovations in footwear, uniform designs, fabrics and textiles.”
The Warriors will debut their new uniforms when they take on Florida in their season opener on Aug. 30.
“Under Armour offers a quality line of football products and our players will be thrilled to wear its apparel,” coach Greg McMackin said. “Additionally, they have successfully positioned themselves as the aggressive new brand in this field, so we will benefit from having them as an apparel and footwear supplier as well as a marketing partner.”
Under Armour has incorporated coaches, facilities and former players from some of its other partnerships in its previous marketing and advertising campaigns, including “Protect This House(TM)” and “Click-Clack(TM).” Past commercials have featured coaches Steve Spurrier (South Carolina), Ralph Friedgen (University of Maryland) and Tommy Tuberville (Auburn).
“This is certainly a landmark deal for UH Athletics,” said Carl Clapp, interim athletic director. “It will provide our football student-athletes with quality game and practice products, while also providing UH with an outstanding marketing partner. The revenue that Under Armour has committed will enhance our financial situation and we are thrilled to be aligned with such an exciting and progressive company.”
February 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
NICE.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
can’t wait to get my hands on some of the new gear
February 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Dave, how does the Under Armour deal compare with the previous Nike agreement?
February 25th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Just the kind of boost that the Athletic Dept. needs!! CLICK CLACK!!!
February 25th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
MUCH better … lots of money and promotional considerations.
There will be commercials with UH coaches and former players in them.
More details to come. I just got back from the press conference.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
A commerical with some yelling in aloha stadium “we must fix this house”
February 25th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Dave,
does this mean the uniforms will look different? or just a small logo change.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
This is a pretty big deal. Was shocked to see that the total value of the deal put at $4.1 million – almost half of which is a straight cash payout.
I wonder if a deal of this magnitude would’ve been fostered through if Hermie was still running the ship. Kudos to Clapp for seeing this through. Don’t know how much he was actually responsible for it though, but in any case its gonna be a huge feather in his cap and will provide great tally points for him and his supporters to get the AD position.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I’ve been told the unis will be quite different.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Rights fee of $125,000 a year for next year, gradually going up to $160k in 2015-16 that’s free, new money they didn’t get before.
Looks like this was a team effort all-around, including McMackin who checked with Mike Leach and Ray Lewis to verify UA’s customer service and quality.
I think John McNamara did a lot of the legwork.
Also, they made sure that everything would go to the athletic department. If the bookstore wants to sell UA stuff, they do it on their own dime.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Just imagine an under armour commercial with the warriors doing the haka, finishing it out with “we must protect this house.” That would be pretty awesome.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
How about, “We must protect this hale,” or, “We must protect this haole,” assuming Funaki isn’t the starting QB.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I loved the “old ” uniforms (the ones we’ve had for the past several years). I hope the new ones aren’t too different. How do you keep tradition if the uniforms keep changing every few years? I like the deal and sponsorship but we need to stop changing and settle in with a style and make it become recognized around the country. I may be mistaken but I think most of the big names haven’t changed their look in decades.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Hey Dave,
Does the “performance” apparel include that battery-powered thermal football pants that keeps you warm in cold weather?? I think some NFL teams have had that this year; don’t know if Underarmour was the provider, though.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Wow, what a deal! Kudos to John McNamara and Greg McMackin.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Really? I read that there would be some changes, but nothing radical. Also read that McMackin was intrigued with the possibility of throwback uniforms. Are the ‘Bows back?
February 26th, 2008 at 8:58 am
It would be awesome if the Warriors came out in throwback all green uniforms for their first home game ! By the way is SMU changing to all black uniforms this year ? I heard they are also changing the name to SMU Broncos because “Mustangs” sound to soft.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Dave,
Saw Mack and both AD’s on KITV news wearing the new UH shirts. Notice how the UA logo looks like an H? Mack said that the Hawaiiana tapa print would be kept. Can’t wait to see what it looks like.
Great team effort in putting this deal together. Unbelievable!!
February 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am
now that’s funny
February 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Can Vili be in the commercials?
February 26th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
hey dave,
alot of people seems to have forgotten to also give some credit to some former coaches and players who have helped UH get to where it is
February 26th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I think the O-Line has already been saying this or something similar.
Didn’t we have a QB named Hao a while back?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I think that was a bad move to leave Nike. UA product is subpar and their footwear is garbage. Just ask any current program that is forced to use that crap.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
If you want to see a company that is gaining recognition quickly and will be UA’s competition in the very near future visit http://www.everyoneplays.com –
May be the next company for investors to watch as they are getting ready to launch.