Notre Dame Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick and Under Armour CEO, Kevin Plank held a press conference at Notre Dame today to officially announce what we already knew. Notre Dame athletics will be outfitted by Under Armour for the next 10 years.
The morning started off with a little hype
"The victory goes not only to the strong and brave – but to the smart team." -Knute Rockne #RiseAndGrind
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) January 21, 2014
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RT @UnderArmour: CLICK CLACK MOTHERFUCKERS – Frank Leahy
— Steve (@PootND) January 21, 2014
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But, despite the preliminary hype, the press conference was nothing more than to uh… well… make it official. The uniforms that were displayed were still just "mock-ups" and Kevin Plank told the group of reporters that UA still had a ways to go before any official jersey would be ready.
In some ways I guess, I was a little disappointed that the "real thing" wasn't ready to unveil yet. There had even been some chatter that the Shamrock Series uniforms might have possibly been ready to show too. Obviously that didn't happen.
After I quickly got over that initial feeling, I actually was glad that things weren't entirely ready to go just yet. Why? Well, a couple of reasons:
- Notre Dame has never executed things "on the fly" very well. Remember the first Shamrock Series announcement? Yeah, that stuff went over pretty roughly with fans and alumni. It's better to wait, and to have it done properly than to just throw it out there to throw it out there. They had the presser to make the deal official- nothing more. I can respect that.
- WHAT IN THE HELL WOULD WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IN JULY? Seriously. I'm betting that there will be one HELLA fashion show either in July or at one of the media days in the beginning of August for both the new uniforms and the Shamrock Series. I'm totally cool with this.
The most interesting thing with this whole deal isn't just the amount of money, which is being billed as the biggest in the history of collegiate athletics; it's the fine print.
Notre Dame could receive stock options instead of cash payouts during this deal. That's interesting to me, because that seems to be more of a deal reflecting a "partnership" than just adding another vendor to the accounts receivable column. This would suggest that the 10 year deal has a much better chance of going far beyond 10 years than we have seen in the past 3 decades.
This deal is more of a brotherhood. A deal signed in blood with a candle burning and The Irish Guard chanting a canticle in the background. This feels more like a lasting relationship that a fling. That's great news for those that want Notre Dame to be consistent with its brand and image. In fact, Kevin Plank was asked about that and he stated that was a top priority for this deal- to keep the image "Notre Dame." Jack Swarbrick even went so far as to point out that Under Armour has done just that with Auburn, who changes their uniforms ridiculously less than Notre Dame.
Breathe easy traditionalists. "CRAZY" looks like it will only happen about once per year.
Perfect.
Let the partnership begin…@UnderArmour #WeAreND pic.twitter.com/bDgslJdQIS
— Brian Kelly (@CoachBrianKelly) January 21, 2014
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