Syracuse Athletics, Nike agree to new multi-year deal; top takeaways

Syracuse Athletics and Nike have agreed to a new multi-year deal. This deal is expected to grow the brand of both the university and the Swoosh.

Friday morning Syracuse athletics released via their Twitter account, a new deal with their athletic apparel partner Nike. The deal in place covers all varsity sports on campus according to the release, and is not limited to just the student-athletes, but “teams, coaches, and staff will use Nike-provided products,” as a part of the new deal.

“We are pleased to continue our longstanding partnership with Nike. This agreement benefits all 20 varsity sports and every student-athlete at Syracuse University,” –Syracuse University Director John Wildhack in Friday morning’s press release.

Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack hosted a press conference on Friday at 10 a.m., to announce a new deal with Nike.

The official terms of the deal were not disclosed at the press conference because of a confidential agreement with Nike according to Wildhack. However, Wildhack did mention normal deals like this tend to be in the range of “6-to-15 years,”  but the one for Syracuse “is a shorter term,” compared to those.

Football success is a driving force in the negotiations like these according to Wildhack and that they are “better served by a shorter deal,” because of that.

This could be an indication that Syracuse’s current AD has growing confidence in the football program under head coach Dino Babers and what he believes the not so decent outlook of the program could be. Wildhack praised Babers on the culture of the program, a culture that is “consistent with the department’s values.”

"With the current deal, Wildhack’s primary objective was, “to do right for our 600 student-athletes.”  “The value is focused on the product,” Wildhack also mentioned, “We want to outfit all 20 of our teams in the best gear possible…and make their experience better as student-athletes.”"

The hope is to free up other funding to allocate it in other areas to remain “competitive.” Whildhack

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used the negotiations with Coach Babers as an example and the resources are given for his assistant coaches and staff based on what they examined from the “marketplace,” plus recruiting through all varsity sports.

"As one of the longest-tenured partners of Nike, Wildhack mentioned at Friday’s press conference, Syracuse was not willing to make the switch in their brand. “We’ve have had a good partnership. which we have with Nike. We are also going to give the incumbent the first opportunity and last opportunity.,” Wildhack said."

Branding has been a driving force behind Syracuse Athletic’s decision making long before Wildhack returned to campus in July of 2016.

“Nike has long been recognized as the leader in this space. Number one brand and obviously a global brand,” Wildhack said Friday. “Brand,” often was a buzz word for former AD Daryl Gross.

Making all the changes in the brand and uniforms will be considered by the feedback from fans as well. Wildhack cited that he has heard “loud and clear,”  that fans are not “enamored,” with the current football uniforms.

Something to watch with this potential new branding is the color Orange. This has been one of the biggest desires for both fans and the student-athletes who Wildhack has spoken with. Wildhack also noted how they will be involved with decisions for new uniforms and apparel and not have a design without their input.

With Syracuse’s announcement of the deal, expect a little more info on the developments of new uniforms and apparel options soon. Uniforms for the 2019-2020 athletic year will remain a topic of discussion throughout the summer. Possibly starting with Football, who is just two and a half months away from their opener at Liberty, uniforms could possibly begin rolling out next week at a fan event that Wildhack said he’d “encourage our fans to stay tuned to that.”

In 2017 ACC rival Louisville signed a new deal with Adidas, that was valued for 10 years, $160 million, $16 million a year, according to the Courier-Journal.  This deal seems to be quite larger than what Syracuse can expect as defending college football National Champions Clemson signed with Nike for 10-years $58 million, $5.8 million a year with an increase of yearly payments and royalties from 11 percent to 14 according to Bleacher Report right before their recent championship run. Syracuse’s deal is “not game-changing,” but will see royalty increases from merchandising as Clemson saw a year ago.

Other notes from Thursday’s press conference:

• ESPN is still in ongoing negotiations with Charter/Spectrum on adding the ACC Network before it’s launch in August and that this deal could go to the “23rd hour,” which is not unusual.
• Season and Home Opener for the Men’s Basketball team will be against defending National Champions Virginia and also will be exclusively on the ACC Network.
• “Great attribute,” of ACC Network is it’s coverage of Women and Olympic sports, with a 90% increase of television coverage.
• Wildhack is not looking forward to Clemson coming to the Dome referencing tough Games with Liberty and Maryland on the road to start the season against two new head coaches and lack of current film.
• Wildhack has eyes on the FBI investigation in college basketball. “Any time the FBI is in a sport you’re worried.”
• SU Football season ticket sales “are very strong,” with over 6,800 new season ticket packages and an over 90 percent renewal rate.
• Men’s and Women’s basketball season ticket renewal date is Friday, June 14th.

• Carrier Dome Box Office is being moved to the Ensley Athletic Center beginning Monday, June 17th due to the beginning preparations for the Dome’s renovations. The box office will remain there until Fall of 2020 according to CNYCentral.com. Free accessible parking at the Manley South lot.