Ohio University recently announced a five-year partnership with Nike for OU’s 16 athletic programs. The partnership, beginning July 2027, will provide uniforms, shoes and apparel for fans and student athletes.
The university’s current partner is Adidas and was Russell Athletic prior. The partnership with Nike comes as OU and Adidas’ contract was set to expire at the end of the year.
Alyson Vander Steen, the associate athletic director for OU, described the process they went through to find a new partner.
“As part of our standard operating procedure, we issued a request for proposals (RFP) to evaluate the opportunities available and determine which partnership would best serve the department and our student athletes,” Vander Steen said.
The partnership is for OU athletics, so merchandise vendors are able to sell non-Nike OU apparel, as long as the merchandise complies with OU’s licensing agreements with the Collegiate Licensing Company, according to Vander Steen.
Vander Steen also said the partnership is an opportunity to “enhance the Ohio Athletics brand and support our student-athletes.”
Lauren Mader is a junior studying *communications and is on the track and field team at OU. She said the partnership between the university and Nike is a cool, different change.
“I really do like the stuff that we get from Adidas, but I'm excited to see what we get from Nike, just because you know we only get a certain amount of things each year,” Mader said. “I mean our merch drops are always so much fun, so it'll be cool next year to see what it's like.”
Mader said she thinks partnerships between brands and universities are good because they help athletes become better.
“I think having a brand represent, or like helping us represent ourselves is cool, and changing from Adidas to Nike I feel would represent us better,” Mader said. “I think that Nike will just help us be a better sports program overall.”
Bailey Blair is a sophomore on OU’s volleyball team studying civil engineering. Blair said she is looking forward to the clothes and uniforms provided by Nike, but is more apprehensive of the volleyball specific equipment.
“I'm excited for the gear that is not specific to volleyball,” Blair said. “I'm a little bit nervous because I've had bad experiences with volleyball specific equipment that's Nike branded in the past, like their spandex and knee pads, but I'm very excited for like our travel gear, sweatshirts, sweatpants, like our non-volleyball shoes, that kind of stuff.”
Blair said she used Adidas equipment for most of her volleyball career and has not had any problems with its equipment. She did say, however, she generally prefers Nike’s style.
Sierra Evans is also on the volleyball team. Evans, a junior studying journalism, said the volleyball team heard about the partnership a couple of days before it was announced, so it wasn’t a big surprise to her.
Evans said she is most looking forward to the Nike sweatsuits, but she doesn’t know how much equipment will change because they often aren't branded by Adidas.
Evans said the switch from Nike could present a small issue for the volleyball team, as the upper-class players typically give their old uniforms and merch to the incoming freshman players.
“So since we're switching to Nike, I don't know if the coaches are gonna give us gear in the Spring, but we're not going to have anything because usually we just give our old stuff to the freshmen, but since we're switching, we're not gonna really have any gear actually,” Evans said.
Vander Steen commented on the financials of the partnership.
“We would need to confirm the specific financial terms of Ohio's agreement with procurement before providing figures or detailing any direct payments between the university and Nike,” Vander Steen said in an email.
Vander Steen also said in her email the partnership will be finalized so the athletes can begin the fall 2027-28 season in Nike uniforms.
The decision to partner with Nike was made by a team of Ohio Athletics staff.
“As Ohio’s previous agreement with Adidas approached its conclusion, the department followed its standard process of evaluating apparel partnerships and available opportunities,” Vander Steen said. “A team within Ohio Athletics worked closely with campus constituents to evaluate options and select Nike as a partner.”
