Nike Will Pay Michigan All Of The Money Comment Count

Ace

When Michigan chose to partner with Nike for their next apparel deal, it was rumored they did so while turning down more generous monetary offers from Adidas and Under Armour. The details of the Nike contract have been released, and it's safe to say Jim Hackett struck a pretty solid deal regardless. Via MLive's Brendan Quinn:

According to contract details released by the Michigan athletic department, the university's deal with Nike is worth $169 million over 11 years, making it by far the richest of all apparel deals in collegiate athletics. The contract, which will supply all 31 U‐M athletic programs with uniforms, footwear, apparel and equipment, will pay $76.8 million in cash and $80.2 million in apparel.

Michigan will receive $12 million upfront, followed by $10.1 million-$10.9 million annually in cash and apparel/equipment.

Notre Dame's 10-year contract with Under Armour, which surpassed Michigan's then-record contract with Adidas, is reportedly for $90 million. From Quinn's article, the next-highest contract for a public school is Texas' deal with Nike, which is worth a little over $5.5M/year.

Yes, saying Michigan signed a deal for $Texas may actually be understating things. Take a bow, Jim Hackett.

UPDATE: The $169 million figure is a little misleading, as that apparently includes four option years tacked on to the end of the deal.

As part of the still-record-shattering deal, Michigan will make a pretty penny on royalties:

In addition to shattering the record for the largest deal in NCAA history, Michigan will also receive 15-percent royalty rates on apparel purchases. This passes Notre Dame's 13-percent and is believed to be the highest in the country.

Michigan has a 10% royalty rate with Adidas.

Comments

BLHoke

July 15th, 2015 at 2:05 PM ^

This confirms my suspicion that UofM would make up the difference in base pay via a percentage of apparel when others were throwing out .5% - 3% as the ceiling insinuating that it wouldn't. 15% from any fan base would be gobs and gobs of cash, much less this particular fan base.

Ron Utah

July 15th, 2015 at 2:35 PM ^

Everyone wins:

  • University gets a topflight deal to cover apparel and subsidize the athletic department
  • Nike gets the best brand in college sports with the largest (and probably wealthiest) alumni network in the world
  • Fans and recruits get the gear most want

Personally, I'm happy about all three, but I'll never be a huge spender on apparel.

BlueCube

July 15th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^

Tearing about his wardrobe and room to make them Nike will likely fund the softball team this year when you factor in a 15% royalty..

It'sGreatToBe

July 15th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^

Took a quick read through the term sheet that MgoBlueprint helpfully shared. Some of the more interesting business terms from my personal perspective:

Compensation/Product Supply:

Advanced Base Compensation (payable within 10 business days of executing a definitive agreement): $12,000,000

Annual Base Compensation:

  • $4,820,000/year for contract years 1-10;
  • $5,320,000 for contract year 11; and
  • $5,820,000 for contract years 12-15 (if exercised).

Royalties:

  • 15% of "Net Sales" (which is separately defined in nike's standard sponsorship template) of licensed products sold during each contract year.
  • Aggregate royalties will be at least $18,370,000 over the initial 11-year term or $25,050,000 over the full 15-year term (if exercised). These amounts appear to be minimum royalty thresholds, rather than caps.

Product Supply:

  • Retail value of supplied products will be $5,300,00 in the first year, decrease to $4,700,000 in contract year two, and then increase in each subsequent year by $100,000.
  • Michigan will have the right in contract years 6 and 12 to negotiate to replace the $100,000 annual increase with "another mechanism that acknowledges market place changes and helps to maintain UofM's purchasing position." As a practical matter, I imagine Michigan's leverage in these negotiations will likely be tied only to Nike looking towards winning a future renewal, but it does appear that a renegotiation mechanism of some sort is at least being discussed.

Perhaps most interesting to me is that this $122.32 million figure that's being thrown around for the first 11 years seems to only account for the Advanced Base Compensation, Annual Base Compensation, and value of the Product Supply. By my read, this number does not account for the guaranteed minimum of at least $18.37 million in royalties. While everyone in the media seems quite focused on this $122.32 million number, I think the guaranteed royalties would value the first 11 years of the contract at a minimum of $140.69 million, or roughly $12.79 million per year, notwithstanding the potential to exceed that amount based on high royalty sales (i.e., if "Net Sales" exceed roughly $122.5 million over the 11-year term, the royalties number would be even higher than the $18.37 million that is already guaranteed).

If Michigan extends, the contract would be worth a minimum of $194.05 million, or roughly $12.94 million per year, again notwithstanding the potential to exceed that amount based on high royalty sales. Anyone is welcome to chime in if they disagree with that read, though. Either way, as others have mentioned, this royalties clause is most certainly a "WD Clause".

Other Interesting Terms:

  • Michigan will be able to purchase additional products at wholesale prices, and Nike will try to accomodate other recreational sports at Michigan by providing them with the opportunity to participate in favorable pricing on Nike products.
  • Nike will propose any product styles to Michigan at least 2 months prior to the relevant order date to allow Michigan to review and approve the styles.
  • Nike will also make its "Graphic Identity Group" available to Michigan for a comprehensive branding review and for team uniform design, both prior to the effective date and from time to time during the relationship.
  • Men's and Women's Basketball will be covered by Jordan rather than Nike, and Michigan can ask Nike to supply other Michigan's other varsity programs with Jordan gear to the extent Nike agrees to do so at any other schools.
  • Nike will offer three summer internships to Michigan students "at a minimum cost to Nike of $15,000 per intern". Unclear if "minimum cost" is intended to mean the same thing as "compensation" or not.
  • Interestingly, the term sheet acknowledges both parties' "shared interest and goal of improving working conditions in the subcontracted factories engaged to make Licensed Product". To that end, Nike has agreed to share information about its compliance program with Michigan, and the parties will "further negotiate appropriate language for the Definitive Agreement". Pretty vague at this point, but it definitely suggests Michigan expressed some level of concern over labor issues at Nike's subcontractors in these discussions.

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Of course, it's worth noting that this is a term sheet and not yet a definitive agreement, so there are obviously some kinks to be worked out. I'm a bit surprised that there's no "most-favored nations" provision for higher compensation paid to other Nike schools in the future (other than the MFN concept w/r/t using the Jordan brand for non-basketball sports), especially given the compensation that Nike was willing to pay, but on the whole these preliminary terms look solid for Michigan.

It'sGreatToBe

July 15th, 2015 at 4:31 PM ^

Yeah, the royalties issue is an interesting one as I admittedly have no idea whether other schools typically get guaranteed minimum royalties over the course of their contracts (and, if they do, if that amount is included in the contract values that were sporadically listed throughout today's threads). If guaranteed minimum royalties are typical but aren't generally counted towards the reported contract value, it might be a slightly apples-oranges comparison to include that here. If not, though, then it's just another feather in Hackett's cap that he was able to secure that.

turtleboy

July 15th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^

11 years worth of apparel (excluding hockey, baseball, and softball) costs one major university $80 million dollars. Is that at cost, or with the store markup?