Colorado State Athletics, Under Armour agree to 5-year, $11 million deal

Movin’ on up!

For fans of Colorado State Athletics, Wednesday brought big news. Yes, CSU and Under Armour already had a partnership, but it was extended and expanded upon today.

“Under Armour is the perfect partner for Colorado State Athletics,” said Joe Parker, CSU’s director of athletics in a release. “We are proud of our affiliation and thrilled to extend the relationship. Our student-athletes and coaches appreciate UA’s acute focus on performance, innovation and technology. We are excited to practice and compete in apparel, uniforms and footwear provided by Under Armour, who by every measure of success is skyrocketing.”

For Colorado State and Under Armour, the new deal is for five years, running through 2021, and the apparel company will pay the athletics department $2.2 million per year for a total of $11 million.

“We are so proud to extend our partnership with CSU for the next five years, developing and designing innovative training and game day gear for the Rams,” said Nick Carparelli, Senior Director, Collegiate Sports Marketing. Under Armour. “We look forward to many years of continued success in our partnership driven by the University’s strong commitment to their athletic programs.”

Under the previous agreement, which was three years, CSU was paid a mere $100,000 per year from UA, with which the school could purchase all the gear necessary to compete in every sport. When they fell short of funding, Colorado State had to fork the bill. No more worries of that.

Also, with this new deal, the school elevates to a higher tier, which means they’re allowed to work with UA and design three alternate jerseys over the course of the deal to expand on the already existing pumpkin and alfalfa Aggies jerseys which are worn annually for Ag Day.

When we tweeted out what looks fans wanted to see, many responded with a litany of answers. (Those answers in a separate piece, soon.) The freedom to create three alternate looks as well as update the base level jerseys they’ve been playing in the last few seasons is clearly important to fans as well as recruits.

Under Armour’s expanding roster of NCAA partnerships also includes the University of Notre Dame, University of Wisconsin, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland, Auburn University, Utah University, Northwestern University, Boston College and the University of South Carolina.

The company will also help with branding efforts of the new on-campus stadium, create social media initiatives as well as come up with grassroots efforts to help distribute CSU apparel.

This is truly a massive step in the right direction for Colorado State, who only a couple of years ago was under the Russell Athletic brand, and now will sport jerseys which are top-notch.