UCLA will obtain about $67.5 million from Underneath Armour as a part of a settlement to resolve the college’s lawsuit towards the attire firm for terminating a file attire sponsorship deal, in accordance with a doc obtained by ESPN.
On Might 26, the 2 sides agreed to the settlement, which required Underneath Armour to pay UCLA $67,491,275, and absolves each events of any legal responsibility. In June 2020, Underneath Armour knowledgeable UCLA that it supposed to terminate a 15-year, $280 million deal to be the college’s attire sponsor, citing “advertising and marketing advantages” that UCLA had not offered “for an prolonged time interval.” Underneath Armour tried to invoke the power majeure clause within the settlement after UCLA stopped all athletic occasions after the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The deal, signed in 2016, was the biggest sponsorship settlement in school sports activities historical past on the time.
In August 2020, UCLA sued Underneath Armour for greater than $200 million for breach of contract. In September 2021, Underneath Armour countersued UCLA, claiming the college violated a separate settlement by masking Underneath Armour logos with social justice patches on the uniforms of its soccer and basketball groups. Each lawsuits have been dropped in gentle of the settlement, which features a mutual non-disparagement clause.
“UCLA is without doubt one of the most acknowledged and revered collegiate names across the globe,” Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor of strategic communications, stated in a press release to ESPN. “We’re gratified to have resolved this matter in a manner that advantages our student-athletes and your complete Bruin group.”
UCLA in June introduced it could depart the Pac-12 to hitch the Massive Ten in 2024, and cited monetary struggles as a motive for the convention shift. The Los Angeles Occasions reported in January that UCLA’s athletic division has a debt of greater than $100 million, which stems partially from the lack of the Underneath Armour settlement. In December 2020, UCLA introduced a six-year partnership with Nike and the Jordan Model that may pay the college $46.45 million.
“I inherited a deficit with UCLA athletics,” athletic director Martin Jarmond advised ESPN in July. “So when you’ve gotten a big monetary problem, it is tough to simply preserve, by no means thoughts to speculate. This transfer [to the Big Ten] not solely preserves the packages we’ve got now but additionally permits us to put money into them in ranges that may result in extra aggressive success.”
Underneath Armour continues to outfit a number of main school sports activities packages, together with Notre Dame, Auburn, Wisconsin and Utah.
“Underneath Armour stays dedicated to all scholar athletes and needs UCLA and your complete Bruin group nicely,” the corporate stated in a press release.