Illinois' new Nike contract has more gear, less cash

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Details of the University of Illinois athletic department's new 10-year contract with Nike show that the school will get more gear but less cash than it did in its previous deal.

The school's sports licensing director says the university will get $4 million annually in shoes, jerseys and other apparel from Nike, and therefore won't have to pay the sportswear company between $300,000 and $500,000 a year for extra products to outfit its teams like it has in recent years.

The university announced last week that it had extended its Nike partnership through the 2025-26 school year with a contract valued at $44.5 million. The contract was released late Tuesday to media outlets that asked for copies, The (Champaign) News-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1RPrXY0 ) reported.

The prior agreement, which expires July 1, provided the university with $1.2 million in apparel and $325,000 in cash per year. The new contract has no upfront sponsorship payment.

The new contract provides $4 million worth of apparel in the first year, increasing by $100,000 each year of the contract. The university retains the right to get some of the $4 million allotment in cash, but every $3 worth of merchandise would be converted into $1 in cash. The maximum allowed would be $750,000 in merchandise, or $250,000 in cash per year.

Marty Kaufmann, the school's assistant director of athletics in business development, said the university wanted a new contract structure to try to eliminate any cash payments to Nike.

"We were getting $325,000 in cash, but we were basically spending that and then some on equipment," he said.

With the extra gear, Kaufmann said the school can better equip its nonrevenue sports such as volleyball, baseball and softball. He said in some cases those athletes may have had just one pair of cleats, but will now get a second.

"Now they're going to have everything they need, and probably everything that their peers have," he said. "From a recruiting standpoint that's important, too."

Kaufmann said negotiations on a new deal with Nike began last summer, when the school decided it would stay with the company if it could get a fair agreement. He said no other companies tried to woo the university away from Nike.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com