The East Carolina University Department of Athletics agreed to a 10-year exclusive partnership with Adidas beginning in July of 2016, according to an announcement by ECU Director of Athletics Jeff Compher. The Portland, Oregon-based company will be the official athletic footwear, apparel and accessory brand of the Pirates through the 2025-26 athletic season.
East Carolina will join Arizona State, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Miami, Mississippi State, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, and UCLA as Adidas partners. Adidas is the official uniform, footwear and apparel provider for more than 100 collegiate programs.
“I am very excited for our student-athletes, coaches, and our fans as the Pirates begin this new partnership with Adidas,” Compher said. “I would like to thank our hard working staff and the leadership team at Adidas for aggressively pursuing this partnership and long-term relationship. Adidas is already nationally-recognized for their quality, service and leadership in collegiate athletics. Their desire to partner with ECU will accelerate the growth of our Pirate brand.”
The creative partnership with Adidas is the next step for East Carolina in terms of brand recognition and national exposure as both have already been greatly enhanced with ECU’s 2014 entry into the American Athletic Conference and the league’s television contract with the ESPN family of networks.
“We’re excited about the direction of athletics at East Carolina University,” Director of NCAA Sports Marketing for Adidas America Jim Murphy said. “Over the next ten years, we’ll outfit the Pirates in our newest and most innovative footwear, apparel and uniforms. Our mission is to help athletes perform better and we’re looking forward to bringing this winning attitude to all men’s and women’s athletics at ECU.”
The level of interest in East Carolina from various apparel companies made the selection process competitive. Representatives from Adidas will be on campus in early November to consult with each team individually. East Carolina’s current contract with Nike will expire May 31, 2016.
“We appreciate all that Nike has done for ECU and we will continue to wear their products through June of next year,” Compher added.
Adidas also has marketing agreements with the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Soccer (MLS).
