When Notre Dame faces off against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday night, the game will also be a showdown of the school’s apparel sponsors: Under Armour (Notre Dame) vs. Nike (Ohio State).
College football championships are old hat for Nike, as the partner of recent champions Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and Michigan. But for Under Armour, it has been 14 years since one of its schools—Auburn, led by Cam Newton—won a title. The sports apparel brand has since shifted its marketing strategy, with several high-profile exits from college sports.
“Under Armour kind of has all their eggs in one basket in the college space,” Nick Carparelli, former head of Under Armour’s college sports marketing and now executive director of Bowl Season, said in a phone interview.
Yet, a Notre Dame title would be validation that Under Armour bet on the right horse, and win or lose, the game will showcase the UA logo on ND’s jerseys to an audience of around 25 million people.
“A Notre Dame national championship would no doubt strengthen our credibility and highlight our innovative performance products on college football’s biggest stage,” Sean Eggert, Under Armour SVP of global sports marketing, said in an email. “In the end, we are part of the team, we are on the field with them.”
In 2014, Under Armour launched an aggressive strategy to invest in the college market. It tripled the number of schools on its roster over five years, including several pricey deals. “Under Armour was founded as a college sports brand, and then obviously grew from there,” Carparelli said.
Television and football drive the train for college sports, but for a brand like Under Armour looking to sell footwear, college basketball was more important, according to Carparelli. During that same five-year period, Under Armour went from sponsoring one school in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to sponsoring 19.
Yet, when Under Armour’s revenue growth stalled and the stock price shrank, the company ended several of its biggest marketing deals. UCLA was owed about $213 million on its Under Armour deal when the Baltimore company moved to terminate the agreement in 2020. The company prematurely ended its 10-year, $86 million agreement with Cal-Berkeley and its 10-year, $49.7 million contract with Cincinnati. Eggert said the brand “refined” its focus to prioritize key partners, which allowed Under Armour to collaborate with schools with “greater intention and strategy.”
Under Armour currently has partnerships with 90 Division I institutions, including six Power 4 schools, such as South Carolina and Wisconsin, as well as Notre Dame, Yale, the U.S. Naval Academy and Jackson State. Auburn is still in the stable, but it will start a new deal with Nike in July.
At its peak in 2017, Under Armour had long-term sponsorship commitments of $1.36 billion. Those commitments are now $432 million, according to the company’s latest SEC filings. In addition to ending several college deals, Under Armour backed out of an agreement to outfit MLB and paid a penalty. It also exited its on-field deal with the NFL. The brand has focused its sponsorships on several major properties, including Stephen Curry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Notre Dame.
In 2020, Under Armour fended off rivals to secure a 10-year extension to its agreement with Notre Dame. The deal was one of the richest in the sport at more than $10 million per year on average in cash and gear, according to Yahoo Sports.
“Notre Dame is a best-in-class partner,” Eggert said, and he cites the school’s rich history and cultural impact as a unique platform to build brand awareness and foster “meaningful connections with a deeply passionate audience.”
“[Under Armour’s] innovative approach to introducing new and exciting technologies provides our student-athletes with the very best products enabling them to compete at the highest levels,” Jim Fraleigh, Notre Dame deputy athletics director, said in an email. “We look forward to continuing a long and prosperous partnership with Kevin [Plank] and the entire Under Armour team.”
Notre Dame has long been a unicorn for its storied history, 11 football championships and unique NBC contract. Now, it is back on top of the college football world on the field, seeking its first national title since 1988. The success can provide an avenue for Under Armour to lean into that 16- to 24-year-old team sport athlete, a core customer for the brand.
“Collaborating with the Fighting Irish offers a direct and powerful way to engage the next generation of athletes,” Eggert said. “We not only cultivate brand loyalty and affinity but also leverage their social influence to extend our reach.”
