Miami athletics returns to Nike in record-setting deal

Sebastian Font

Today at 12:22 PM 3 min read

Originally from The Miami Hurricane

Miami athletics has returned to Nike as the program’s apparel sponsor, agreeing to a lucrative 10-year contract worth more than $200 million.

Nike was the apparel sponsor of the Hurricanes from 1987-2015, before the University made an unprecedented decision to sign with Adidas.

Now, Miami is back wearing the iconic swoosh.

Miami found themselves in a strong negotiating position following its national championship appearance, also coming off the footsteps of other premier programs signing apparel deals.

Adidas put pen to paper with Penn State on July 1, in a 10-year, $300 million dollar deal, and agreed to a 10-year, $100 million deal with the University of Tennessee the next day.

With the bar set high, UM went into negotiations with the upper hand and found that Adidas was unwilling to match Nike’s offer according to reports.

The deal marks a role reversal from when Miami was last in apparel negotiations 12 years ago. Nike was unwilling to match Adidas’ offer in 2015, leading to the longstanding Adidas partnership the University had until now.

The offer reportedly puts Miami as the second-highest collegiate investment from Nike, just behind Oregon, where the apparel giant was founded.

UM was in the midst of a 12-year deal partnership with Adidas, set to expire in 2027. The agreement was the longest-standing collegiate partnership in Adidas history — also the first all-sport apparel partnership the company had with a top program.

Adidas had spent the last decade investing in South Florida sports, from high school all the way to Universities.

South Florida talents such as Malachi Toney, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Miami recruits A’mir Sears and Nick Lennear all signed with the three stripes within the last year.

In 2025, Adidas signed a five-year, $13.5 million deal to outfit all 41 of Miami-Dade County High Schools’ athletics uniforms, cementing itself as the leading athletic apparel company in the greater Miami area.

But while UM and Adidas have been great partners for more than a decade, UM and Nike have historic ties.

Miami’s original partnership with Nike marked the first all-sports apparel contract in collegiate history, and continued for four of UM’s national titles in football (1987, 1989, 1999, 2001) and two in baseball (1999, 2001).

The Hurricanes join South Carolina as Power Four programs to sign with Nike in the past year, with the decision set to take effect when Adidas’ deal expires next July ahead of the 2027 athletic season.

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Comments (543)

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Donny Donowitz

Today at 12:07 PM

It’s over for everyone.

Oregon gonna be in tears after this

Bender

Today at 12:08 PM

MissileCane said:
Great job doing due diligence Rad. Glad that the people who are making decisions now actually care.

Blake James would've accepted ASAP...

Cane&Abel

Today at 12:08 PM

The Ad’s about to be legendary!!

gabednconfused

Today at 12:09 PM

Problem2 said:
NO MORE UNIFORMS MADE OUT OF OCEAN TRASH

One9

Today at 12:09 PM

JayCane20 said:
Joe E definitely runs a far more professional organization across the board with the way he handles (seemingly) everything. Hasn't missed yet.

What a breath of fresh air.

HOW YOU DO ANYTHING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHINGGGGGGGGGGGG

C
canesigep23

Today at 12:09 PM

C A N S said:
View attachment 373007

Our uniforms have been better under Adidas than they were under Nike.

Design wise, yes. But only the past 5 years or so. Remember the first few years with adidas had those awful feathers on the sleeves. And they also got so many details wrong (name plate, the stretched out U on the collar, saggy pants where our guys always had to pull them up, etc).

But quality wise, Nike has always been superior.

Last edited: Today at 12:29 PM

One9

Today at 12:10 PM

TwentySix said:
Context

this motha****a HATES them **** 3 stripes.

Cuddlefish

Today at 12:12 PM

miamicanephins

Today at 12:12 PM

coffeecane said:
He gone

wait, what

305 MOUNTAIN MAN

Today at 12:12 PM

I take back everything I said about uncle Phil, we woke now ! LFG !

McGahee2TheHouse

Today at 12:12 PM

bathtubgin said:
This

I don’t care about a brand me way or the other. I do care that every uniform Nike put us in from ‘04 on was ugly garbage.

You can thank Mark Richt, not Adidas, for the current jerseys we wear.

Pretty weird that Nike never managed to put Alabama, OSU, Florida, LSU, etc. in such ugly garbage....

McGahee2TheHouse

Today at 12:14 PM

canesigep23 said:
Design wise, yes. But only the past 5 years or so. Remember the first few years with adidas had those awful feathers on the sleeves. And they also got so many details wrong (name plate, the stretched out U in the collar, saggy pants where our guys always had to pull them up, etc).

But quality wise, Nike has always been superior.

Bingo.

Today at 12:14 PM

OrangeBowlMagic said:
Bro.....a little, irrelevant private school in Coral Gables securing the largest apparel deal in the history of the sport.

We're all homers around here, and that's cool. But I'm gonna spit facts: literally NOBODY moves the needle like The U. Nobody in America.

What was Mario's line at the introductory press conference? Something like "When The U is on, there's nothing like it" ??

He ain't lying. When we're right, it's the preeminent brand in the sport. Good lord, what the **** is happening in the last 3+ years? $40M rosters, $20M annual apparel deals, just please don't wake me up. I could legit cry right now, and **** you, Mario. I'm not listening to your **** anymore. Miami isn't just here, Miami is BACK.

Don't know how to explain it but as much as the Natty appearance this is actually a signal that..we're legit back. Hate to say it and continue the narrative but you know it when it happens for real.

ND fans doing Miami chants at games, coaches in different conferences going out of their way to hate, biggest apparel deal in the sport. We back back

Calinative

Today at 12:14 PM

The U is back to work said:
I wish we had a live camera on @Rellyrell HAHAHAHAHAHAA

H
HTXCane

Today at 12:15 PM

TboneJones said:
The head coach has to agree with that. Mario won't do that. If anything our uniforms will be close to our OG uniforms of the 1980s.

I hope he holds firm. I know Sumrall probably doesn't have a lot of say as a new coach but Nike/Jumpman forced a ton of alternate jerseys/helmets on the Gators this year.

ST26

Today at 12:15 PM

McGahee2TheHouse said:
You can thank Mark Richt, not Adidas, for the current jerseys we wear.

Pretty weird that Nike never managed to put Alabama, OSU, Florida, LSU, etc. in such ugly garbage....

Our current Jersey designs are the best we've ever had. The issue with the pants is a different story

McGahee2TheHouse

Today at 12:15 PM

canesigep23 said:
Design wise, yes. But only the past 5 years or so. Remember the first few years with adidas had those awful feathers on the sleeves. And they also got so many details wrong (name plate, the stretched out U in the collar, saggy pants where our guys always had to pull them up, etc).

But quality wise, Nike has always been superior.

Our name plate font is ****ed to this day; we use these weird spaghetti thin lettering compared to Nike's clean, bold font. Leg pinstripes still wrap around the player's thighs. Pants still fit like ****.

TriStarCane

Today at 12:16 PM

Excited to see what the elite Nike folks that came up with these joints have in store for us

Last edited: Today at 3:04 PM

C
Canedude08

Today at 12:16 PM

Bender said:
Btw, I am on record saying that Adidas always makes these lowball loyalty offers to long-term customers. It's insane that they have done it again.

Edit: Post in thread 'New Miami Adidas Ultraboost - The Shoe and Nike/Adidas Thread.' https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/new-miami-adidas-ultraboost-the-shoe-and-nike-adidas-thread.162720/post-8348534

Found the post. Read it and you'll see what happened. I can't believe they did exactly what I said they will do lmao @Rellyrell

I’m convinced they blew their wad with Tennessee and Penn State. They thought Miami would take a lesser deal, that’s where they were dead wrong. Willing to bet that had Adidas merely matched, Miami would have stuck around. Changing suppliers is a pain, there has to be a legit financial incentive to do so. Adidas failed, that’s on them.

McGahee2TheHouse

Today at 12:16 PM

ST26 said:
Our current Jersey designs are the best we've ever had. The issue with the pants is a different story

I agree and am more than confident that Nike is able to replicate our classic design with pants that actually fit and details that actually are correct.