Today was the dawn of a new era for the Washington Huskies. A lucrative new 10-year contract with Adidas officially started today, July 1, as Washington is now officially no longer a Nike-branded school.
“We are very excited to kick off our partnership with Adidas, and I think our student-athletes and fans will appreciate the depth of thoughtfulness and commitment they have poured into these launch activations,” Washington Director of Athletics Jen Cohen said in a released statement. “Leading up to the partnership launch, Adidas has shown a huge appetite to listen and learn what makes Washington unique, and I believe that spirit will be reflected throughout all of these activations.”
Fans will have to let their imaginations run wild just a little longer before the first look at Washington’s new football uniforms are unveiled for the first time. The new football uniform will be unveiled on July 10. Don’t expect too many changes from Washington’s standard look and color scheme, but count on seeing some standard Adidas design elements implemented into the Husky uniforms. And of course, prepare for some sort of alternative uniform, although that may be held off for a later point in time.
Washington had been a Nike school since 1997 and the contract had been estimated to be valued at about $3.5 million per year. As previously reported, the contract with Adidas is valued at $119 million between how much cash Adidas will pay directly to the university, how much is reserved for product and marketing.