Branding in college football is an essential to a team’s future success as any facet of the program. It’s how Oregon, a state with a population half the size of New York City, is able to compete year after year with the country’s top squads. Granted, a successful brand can’t exist without a successful product on the field, but one hand washes the other and teams are starting to market themselves to recruits by speaking their language. What did you care about when you were 17? Playing sports and looking fresh? Me too.
That’s exactly why Michigan finalized a deal with Nike’s Jordan brand through 2031 worth $173.8 million. In the official contract, Michigan will be paid a total of $85 million in Nike apparel and products through the full length of the 15 years, and a total of $88.8 million in base compensation. How does this directly impact the product on the field? It doesn’t. Tangential benefits bruh.
The University of Maryland, operating under that same agenda, will unveil their RedOps uniforms for their game on Saturday against the #6 ranked Ohio State University. They are dope.
The sick uniforms probably won’t help the 5-4 Terrapins get throttled by a vastly superior OSU squad, but at least the uniforms will mask the blood.