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.

 

The Jordan golf thing has been HUGE, it’s also something that is likely to peter out once our generation moves on to a new style. Basically Nike is just rereleasing the same Eastside Golf stuff over and over, the hypebeasts are eating it up for now. They haven’t grown in the space in a hot minute.

It's hard to grow like they used to when there's more competitors too. Now there's Malbon, Travis Matthew, Rhoback, Barstool, etc. The influx of frat bros into the golf world has hit Nike, cause they're not the ones who gravitate towards Nike. They'll go elsewhere for a polo with a repeated design of a tall boy on it.

And I think they missed the jumping off point of implementing street wear into golf. Malbon has absolutely cornered that and have done extremely well. Stephen Malbon has lapped Nike in this arena.

 

Oh, & just in case for the last bit of naysayers…this is my frat’s youth team in Watts, CA. They needed jerseys & gear. They were literally looking like The Little Giants. Made a couple of calls, one of the Nike reps for that territory got in contact w my frat’s brother who’s the HC & these r the unis they’ll be rocking:

His brother is a 70’s Dolphins fan, but nevertheless Nike came through.

 

U’re a fan vs. an athlete. I’m literally involved in youth sports, my guy. I’ve tirelessly have said this for yrs, I’ve posted tangible data, I’ve specifically told u what kids we had shots w & no shots w due to branding.

It’s like some of ya’ll, & this is no offense to u, have myopic views on things b/c u’re placing ur values on a kid who’s 13-18 yrs old. Apparel matters, stadium atmosphere matters, facilities matters. Those r not the be-all and end-all, but they all matter. It also affects sells.

Sure. Not disagreeing. I was a teacher for a few years at Miami Central dude, I know what kids are like.

 

So this is a bit tricky….we will not be getting Jordan gear, per se, but if a recruit signs a Jordan brand NIL, I’ve seen said said recruit wear Jordan 1 cleats in game or J’s on the court. Bama, for instance, had some Bryce Young Jordan gear for its players/staff, but it wasn’t available to purchase.

So the short answer is no, but there’s some loopholes that can blur the lines just a tad bit.

This is kind of stupid because they're the same company. Just like Nike puts out Michigan and Florida gear even though it's a Jordan school. Should go both ways. I would say Nike is losing a percentage of sales by not making Miami Jordan brand.

 

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Instead of gran polla why don't you use this slang better UNA GRAN VERGA NEGRA

 

@TRick72 is this translation correct? Shouldn’t it be more like “No, he’s a **** eater.”???

Just brushing up on new words to say to my Spanish only speaking wife.

You are correct. He may have taken some creative license on the translation

 

Oh, & just in case for the last bit of naysayers…this is my frat’s youth team in Watts, CA. They needed jerseys & gear. They were literally looking like The Little Giants. Made a couple of calls, one of the Nike reps for that territory got in contact w my frat’s brother who’s the HC & these r the unis they’ll be rocking:

View attachment 373213

His brother is a 70’s Dolphins fan, but nevertheless Nike came through.

 

Yeah, see I aint doing all that. I just picked a different gif lol. Appreciate ya though!

That’s ok I’ll keep fixing yours like relly’s as I see them.

 

So b4 I post my thorough breakdown, here’s On3’s take:



OK, why is this a good thing for us? Obviously, the $$$ is important, but the notoriety and recruiting implications may be even bigger.

Oh—and I forgot to mention this earlier: remember those “upgraded” Adidas uniforms we’ve been getting? High school teams have them, too!! I literally blew a gasket standing on the field and seeing D1/P4-level uniforms being worn by high school kids. Wild.

Now, back to the point.

I’ve been warning for a while that Nike is positioning itself to become the premier NIL brand, and that was going to increasingly impact recruiting. Adidas athletes have already been going to Nike schools, while virtually every Nike NIL athlete has been landing at Nike schools. The lone major exception I’ve seen is Tyran Stokes going to Kansas.

Miami returning to Nike changes that equation.

1. Recruiting:​

This immediately opens the door to the elite Nike high schools—Mater Dei, East St. Louis, DeSoto, St. John Bosco, Santa Margarita, etc.

And this isn't just football -

It creates a major recruiting avenue for basketball because EYBL is, by far, the most influential AAU circuit in the country. The overwhelming majority of elite basketball prospects come through that circuit, and it’s Nike. Most of those players ultimately gravitate toward Nike/Jordan schools, with a handful going to traditional Adidas blue bloods.

Now Miami is back in that ecosystem.

2. The NIL Difference:​

This is probably the biggest part. Nike’s NIL infrastructure is on another level compared with Adidas and Under Armour. I’m not talking about a few commercials and free gear.

I personally know three current high-school Nike NIL athletes—one of them extremely well—and Nike gave all three their own shoe to design, customize and sell through Nike.com. All three sold out immediately, and the athletes received a portion of the profits.

Now imagine Miami being an official Nike Blue Ribbon program alongside schools such as South Carolina, LSU, Alabama, Georgia, USC, Oregon and Clemson.

That creates opportunities for our athletes to develop exclusive NIL relationships with Nike that can potentially extend into their professional careers, although obviously the terms and compensation change once they turn pro.

And for the record, this has nothing to do with Toney’s /// deal. That's separate, although his agreement may be year-to-year.

Guys like Sears and Lennear—and I was just with Lennear’s teammate last Friday—have Adidas NIL agreements that are strictly for high school. Once they reach college, they can renew, switch, or pursue something completely different. Think Chris Henry Jr.

3. The Miami Brand:​

This deal also means:
• More NIL opportunities
• Better recruiting access
• Better fan gear—both quantity AND quality
• A much stronger shoe/cleat presence
• Greater exposure through Nike/Jordan’s South Florida network
• And, yes, Nike will be redoing the IPF

With the number of South Florida influencers connected to Nike and Jordan Brand, our footwear presence could eventually start looking more like Oregon.

4. Nike's Elite Football Schools:​

In no particular order—and excluding Jordan Brand schools—I'd expect Nike's core priorities to include:
• Miami
• LSU
• Alabama
• Clemson
• Tennessee
• Ohio State
• Florida State
• Auburn
• South Carolina
• Oregon
• USC
• Kentucky

And PSU made this decision pretty easy for Nike.

Nike wasn't particularly concerned about Tennessee leaving. Penn State hurt. It's the first time I've seen Nike put out a farewell tweet like that for a school outside of the Tiger Woods situation—and Nike still refuses to rename his building!

Nike's original “Core 4” were Penn State, Miami, USC and Florida State.

-FSU got paid.

-USC got paid.

-PSU prematurely jumped ship because their AD was heavily Adidas-oriented.

At that point, I figured Miami was eventually coming home.

That's why I started chirping about it, until a certain poster confused my intel/corrections with me being a fanboy. So I backed off.

And I'll admit it: for a minute, it looked like I might be wrong. I fully expected us to re-sign with Adidas, but I repeatedly said it wasn't done—and explained why.

Did Adidas spent a ton of money on Penn State and Tennessee? Yes. Did Adidas also pursue Utah? Yes. And if I understand correctly, TAMU hasn't renewed either. (Something to keep an eye on especially w several high profiles TAMU players being Jordan/Nike athletes & TAMU having a separate Nike deal for T&F).

But Adidas made a fatal assumption: they thought Miami was theirs because of the relationships they had built in South Florida, including Miami-Dade and Inter Miami.

The problem? They didn't generate enough goodwill with Miami itself. For the last 4–5 years, we've finally started being treated like the brand we are.

From what I understand, Adidas did attempt to counter; but, once you're talking about $57M/year tied into three programs, the Nike offer was reportedly far beyond what Adidas could match.

And this is part of a broader trend I've been watching for years. I said several programs were going to flip back to Nike:

1. Cincinnati — back with Jordan/Nike
2. Cal — back with Nike
3. UCLA — flipped to Jordan
4. UTSA — flipped to Nike
5. Rice — flipped to Nike
6. Sacramento State — back with Nike (thanks, Mike Bibby)
7. Auburn — flipped to Nike
8. South Carolina — flipped to Nike (thanks, Ms. Wilson)

And now...

Miami is coming home.

That's bigger than uniforms.

 

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Some day I'm going to meet Relly and I'm going to be really disappointed if he doesn't look exactly like this.

 

This is kind of stupid because they're the same company. Just like Nike puts out Michigan and Florida gear even though it's a Jordan school. Should go both ways. I would say Nike is losing a percentage of sales by not making Miami Jordan brand.

Without going into explicit details, I’m going to say Nike is the parent company, but Jordan is its own entity. It’s no different than Converse being its own entity albeit Nike is the parent.

The reason y UF, OU, etc receive both Jordan & Nike is b/c these schools r Jordan branded for their football & basketball programs, only.

There’s an infamous story about Harrison Barnes getting in trouble for wearing Kobe’s on the court instead of Jordan. Y? B/c the basketball team is a Jordan Brand, not Nike. It may sound like semantics, but it’s not.

 

To be fair, most men back then were extremely secure in their masculinity & did not suffer from low T like men today.

The perceived awkwardness is only a consequence of the increased feminization of American society.

I’m all for men hugging. It was the jumping into each other’s arms which looked too staged even for acting.

 

My Duke Johnson Nike jersey rn

 

I was kinda hoping this was a layup for Dana white to throw UM money and get some publicity for the UFC

TKO as a whole. WWE/UFC backing = hate on a new level.

 

My Duke Johnson Nike jersey rn

My Green Carl Walker jersey from 02-03...

 

This is not negative. Genuinely curious. I’m hoping this deal is not going to be outdone once Nike re ups with other schools in next few years

I mean that’d have to completely ignore how contracts work in anything pertaining to athletics where revenue/pay continues to grow.

 

Royal Caribbean needs to step the **** up!

*Rockstar/GTA

I will keep posting that till we get a surprise patch agreement leading to the GTA 6 (Takes place in Miami) release this fall….

 

Let’s move on from the block font, back to the 00s font
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This jersey already fire

 

Give me these right now, and I am a 01 and 2013 jersey guy but these 2 jersey concepts are top tier bruh. White pants black cleats and the orange pants that have that glare they used to have.

 

A couple months ago I had to choose a bank to fund a major business purchase. I refused to contact JPMorganChase because it sponsors Ohio State and I took all my personal money out of SoFi because it sponsors Notre Dame.

I admire your level of petty sir. I hope to reach those lofty standards someday.