College Football 2014 Season

[Tracy MidGrady]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Akron basketball is with Nike, there is nobody that will play for Akron football with enough pull to make them change brands.

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

Maryland unveiled their schedule poster today, and it shows the players wearing last year's Pride uniform but with one of their regular helmets. Any chance MD is moving to the Pride jerseys/pants full time and will add a white away one?

[guest23]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

[nuordr]

Maryland unveiled their schedule poster today, and it shows the players wearing last year's Pride uniform but with one of their regular helmets. Any chance MD is moving to the Pride jerseys/pants full time and will add a white away one?

I'm not a huge fan of their uniforms, but they need to stick to the Pride helmets full-time as those are beautiful:

[Boyee]

Both Wisconsin and Nebraska should continue wearing their current uniforms. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, Minnesota and Indiana all have some form of red as one of their primary school colors that is 7/14 Big Ten schools with some kind of red as a primary color. The only school I'm worried might wear something ridiculous is Maryland. I think Rutgers is a at would have made the East/West divisions much more even. West would have Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. The East would have Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Indiana and Purdue. The top 2 academic FBS conferences are the ACC and the Big Ten. The ACC average ranking will now be below the Big Ten by less than a point as Louisville is definitely not a stellar academic school unlike other ACC members, being ranked #161 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. That is 60 points lower than the lowest other ACC Member, #101 North Carolina State. Connecticut (academically ranked #57 by U.S. News) would have been a better add IMHO for Maryland's vacant ACC spot. If the Big Ten ever expands to 16 I'd like to see them add Missouri and Pittsburgh (1st choice) or Missouri and Notre Dame (2nd Choice) or Missouri and Boston College (3rd choice). that would put 1 more team in the east and one more in the west. Also, I'd like to see Maryland start using Testudo as their primary logo again.

[queso fundido]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

[guest23]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

How much cash or free product do they receive for this deal?

[Clintau24]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

It's small schools like Northwestern State that have to pay for their gear. I'd bet all FBS/D-1 schools have some sort of deal.

[guest23]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

It's small schools like Northwestern State that have to pay for their gear. I'd bet all FBS/D-1 schools have some sort of deal.

Unless a supplier can turn a profit off licensing your merch (Texas etc.) which is probably the top 20% of D1, no supplier is going to give you product for free let alone cash on top. At best they would break even, which likely leaves the D1 mid majors's athletic departments to foot the bill for their uniforms the handful of smaller D1 programs that I know of definitely had to pay for their own gear. It may be at cost, but they are likely paying. There's just no way it's possible as it would cost a supplier to give away about $20k in free product (their cost not retail) to supply a football team.

[razorback447]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

It's small schools like Northwestern State that have to pay for their gear. I'd bet all FBS/D-1 schools have some sort of deal.

Unless a supplier can turn a profit off licensing your merch (Texas etc.) which is probably the top 20% of D1, no supplier is going to give you product for free let alone cash on top. At best they would break even, which likely leaves the D1 mid majors's athletic departments to foot the bill for their uniforms the handful of smaller D1 programs that I know of definitely had to pay for their own gear. It may be at cost, but they are likely paying. There's just no way it's possible as it would cost a supplier to give away about $20k in free product (their cost not retail) to supply a football team.

That 20% number can't be right. That would only be like 24-25 teams. The entire SEC has apparel deals so that's 14 teams right there without even moving in to the rest of the P5 conferences.

[FSUViking]

Maryland's uniforms are an absolute abortion.

[MDGP]

If the Big Ten ever expands to 16 I'd like to see them add Missouri and Pittsburgh (1st choice) or Missouri and Notre Dame (2nd Choice) or Missouri and Boston College (3rd choice). that would put 1 more team in the east and one more in the west. Also, I'd like to see Maryland start using Testudo as their primary logo again.

Your first choice is the only one of these that would be allowed to happen currently. In order to gain B1G membership, a school must be a member school in the Association of American Universities (Nebraska is the only school that isn't currently a member, but was one when it joined the Big Ten). Missouri and Pitt are both members, so they'd both be viable options, but neither Notre Dame or BC would be accepted under the current rules.

[WSU151]

Given the city's history, Akron should be playing up the ridiculous tire tread.

I can't think UA has a very lucrative deal with the three stripes. If CaBron really returns to Cleveland, I wouldn't be shocked to see Akron use Nike-money to get out of the deal.

Nike did it at Central Florida when Marcus Jordan acted a bitch and would only wear his daddy's brand.

Mid majors don't have deals at all. They have to purchase all of their gear at a wholesale cost. Having to pay out of pocket for all of your equipment is the polar opposite of lucrative.

That is not 100% true, many mid majors do have apparel deals. For example, my alma mater Southern Illinois has a deal with Under Amour for all sports.

It's small schools like Northwestern State that have to pay for their gear. I'd bet all FBS/D-1 schools have some sort of deal.

Unless a supplier can turn a profit off licensing your merch (Texas etc.) which is probably the top 20% of D1, no supplier is going to give you product for free let alone cash on top. At best they would break even, which likely leaves the D1 mid majors's athletic departments to foot the bill for their uniforms the handful of smaller D1 programs that I know of definitely had to pay for their own gear. It may be at cost, but they are likely paying. There's just no way it's possible as it would cost a supplier to give away about $20k in free product (their cost not retail) to supply a football team.

I'd highly doubt a major supplier is worried about giving away $20k in free product. Even if they give away $20k to 50 schools...that's only $1 million. Same cost as a TV ad. Chump change for the major athletic suppliers. Plus they make up for that cost from the high-revenue teams.

I'd imagine athletic suppliers use some version of the growth-share matrix (cash cows/stars/dogs/question marks) when analyzing their portfolio of schools.

[pokecat12]

Petrino's work. I'm not shocked, I think we were all expecting it. But I don't know if that is the chrome helmet they showed earlier or not.

From CardinalSports.com's Instagram for credit of shot.

[walkerws]

That's looks awful in my opinion. Understanding that the team has an alternate, that should've been the primary uniforms anyway. The scary thing is that I could see them going with that as their home look.

[Raysfan12]

That's looks awful in my opinion. Understanding that the team has an alternate, that should've been the primary uniforms anyway. The scary thing is that I could see them going with that as their home look.

I digress with that statement. The picture below would still be the home look (with white pants being the optimal look). I think they would wear black against Miami (FL) or Florida State.

[Ben5]

Unless a supplier can turn a profit off licensing your merch (Texas etc.) which is probably the top 20% of D1, no supplier is going to give you product for free let alone cash on top. At best they would break even, which likely leaves the D1 mid majors's athletic departments to foot the bill for their uniforms the handful of smaller D1 programs that I know of definitely had to pay for their own gear. It may be at cost, but they are likely paying. There's just no way it's possible as it would cost a supplier to give away about $20k in free product (their cost not retail) to supply a football team.

You are very wrong. I have first hand knowledge of FCS programs that get hundreds of thousands of dollars in free products, plus a discount on anything they buy.

[guest23]

Unless a supplier can turn a profit off licensing your merch (Texas etc.) which is probably the top 20% of D1, no supplier is going to give you product for free let alone cash on top. At best they would break even, which likely leaves the D1 mid majors's athletic departments to foot the bill for their uniforms the handful of smaller D1 programs that I know of definitely had to pay for their own gear. It may be at cost, but they are likely paying. There's just no way it's possible as it would cost a supplier to give away about $20k in free product (their cost not retail) to supply a football team.

You are very wrong. I have first hand knowledge of FCS programs that get hundreds of thousands of dollars in free products, plus a discount on anything they buy.

Which FCS programs? I'm not saying it's not possible as the ones with large student bodies and alumni bases could sell a ton of merchandise locally. Even a Vanderbilt/wake forest could be a challenge to get to a break even on a deal due the fact that their potential customer base is small compared to a UT or UNC. The flagship schools make sense from a promotion and a merchandise standpoint and most likely turn a profit. It's the middle of the pack that poses a challenge to justify.

In hindsight I came in too low with the 20% number but there's simply no way hundreds of college athletic departments get their uniforms for free, it wouldn't make financial sense to be in the uniform business at all if there ultimately isn't an end customer. The way the business model is typically set up is that adidas pays ucla to wear their tech fit uniforms so Akron will buy those same uniforms near cost, then the fcs schools pay a little bit more than akron, then high schools pay full boat. I'm sure there are a quite a few exceptions, as I know there are flagship high schools as well. AS a whole, in order for sponsorship to make sense you have to have a customer somewhere along the value chain paying full price. At some level you have to not only cover your costs, you have to make a profit which likely means you can't give product away to every college program.

[nuordr]

That's looks awful in my opinion. Understanding that the team has an alternate, that should've been the primary uniforms anyway. The scary thing is that I could see them going with that as their home look.

I digress with that statement. The picture below would still be the home look (with white pants being the optimal look). I think they would wear black against Miami (FL) or Florida State.

I wouldn't be shocked if they introduce a new uniform right before the season starts as the look above is too plain for Petrino. But I agree about the black chrome helmet as it looks horrid.

[queso fundido]

That's looks awful in my opinion. Understanding that the team has an alternate, that should've been the primary uniforms anyway. The scary thing is that I could see them going with that as their home look.

I digress with that statement. The picture below would still be the home look (with white pants being the optimal look). I think they would wear black against Miami (FL) or Florida State.

I wouldn't be shocked if they introduce a new uniform right before the season starts as the look above is too plain for Petrino. But I agree about the black chrome helmet as it looks horrid.

We could see this combo this year as well