football signs w addidas
https://theathletic.com/2548605/2021/04 ... th-adidas/Boston College is taking a unique approach to the apparel game, at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving.
The Eagles are partnering with Adidas to outfit their football program, two weeks after they announced a first-of-its-kind deal with New Balance for their other 30 sports teams.
BC is believed to be the first FBS school to have a football-only apparel deal, after becoming the first FBS program to sign an agreement with New Balance.
Though the New Balance deal was announced as a 10-year agreement, the Adidas deal is for three years, meaning this football-only agreement is trending the way of many others in the industry and going shorter in length.
One thing BC has made clear about its Adidas relationship is that its athletic program will receive significantly more product under both new apparel agreements.
“I think anytime your players are happy, and I think anytime anything benefits recruiting, which I think this does, I think everybody’s happy,” BC football coach Jeff Hafley told The Athletic. “I think if you ask any athlete, anytime they’re going to get more of something, that always fires them up. When you get to a locker and it’s full of new stuff and a lot more stuff than they’re used to having, I think that’s huge, and that’s what you’re going to see. I’m glad our players will be happy and fired up.”
BC had been with Under Armour since 2010, in a deal that was extended in 2015 through the 2023-24 academic year. The Eagles are the latest school to part ways with Under Armour, joining Cincinnati, UCLA and Cal within the past year. Temple, where current BC athletic director Pat Kraft came from in June of 2020, also left Under Armour in April of 2020, joining Nike.
Before Under Armour, BC was outfitted by Reebok.
The shoe wars, in college sports and elsewhere, are nothing new. It is what makes BC’s situation so different among its peers. New Balance is new to the college sports scene, but the company is based in Boston, giving the Eagles a flagship presence of sorts that, on a much smaller scale, could be akin to Oregon’s relationship with Nike. BC’s basketball teams will have a hand in product design and enhancements.
The football footwear component is more complicated, which is likely why resurgent brands such as New Balance (which has signed Kawhi Leonard), Puma (Skylar Diggins-Smith) and Converse (Draymond Green) have yet to outfit entire athletic departments, though it will be interesting to see moving forward if the latter two companies can make an entryway into the college space by pulling off deals similar to BC’s.
New Balance also partners with the Celtics, and it made local waves this week by signing Boston rookie Aaron Nesmith.
The Adidas deal gives BC football a proven brand at the school’s highest-profile sport. The Eagles are the fifth ACC program to sign with Adidas, joining Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami and NC State.
“We are excited to be able to come together with Adidas,” Kraft told The Athletic. “It’s a brand refresh, and with that comes a new energy. We can really look at it now as having a second-year head coach and a rebrand of our program, which gives us a fresh new look. Also, most importantly, we are able with Adidas and New Balance to provide more gear than ever before at Boston College. That really is exciting, and it’s best for our student-athletes.”
The men’s basketball team has a new coach in Earl Grant. The football team opened many eyes in the ACC during Hafley’s first season in 2020, going 6-5, finishing sixth in the 15-team conference and pushing then-No. 1 Clemson to the limit in Death Valley on Halloween.
One of the program’s biggest traditions, from both an emotional and cosmetic standpoint, is its annual Red Bandanna game, when the Eagles dress in bandanna-accented attire in honor of lacrosse alum Welles Crowther, a volunteer firefighter who died while saving more than a dozen lives during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We’re mocking up the Red Bandanna jerseys, and it’s going to be different this year,” Hafley said. “It’s going to have a little bit more pop to it. I thought last year we were really clean. That was one of my favorite jerseys I’ve seen. I think this year we’re going to get a little bit more style to it. I’m pretty fired up about what I think they’ll look like. A little more colorful.”