How Under Armour and Nike play ball with UMd., UVa. and Virginia Tech

A big component of the argument surrounding the way colleges and universities treat their student-athletes is based on the amount of money big-time college football programs collect for their schools. Programs take in money by the millions, often propping up the rest of a school’s athletic department. But how does that money come into the program and where does it go?

Recently, our sister publication in Portland ran an exhaustive look at how apparel companies fit into this equation. What staff reporter Matt Kish found was a system that “raises serious questions about ethics, possible conflicts of interests and the increasing influence of money on college campuses.” The Portland Business Journal also published a database of every apparel contract they were given after a public records request. Three high-profile football programs tied to the D.C.-area — the University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech University — submitted apparel contracts to Portland’s database. We decided to take a deep dive into those deals, which show only a fraction of how much money goes into university athletic programs.

Anyone who casually follows Maryland athletics knows that Under Armour outfits the team. CEO and founder Kevin Plank is a Maryland alum, but the company pays at least two other schools — the University of South Carolina and 2013 BCS championship participant Auburn University — more than it pays Maryland.

Under the deal, Under Armour Inc. supplies Maryland with $1.9 million in equipment and apparel, along with $1.475 million in cash.
More