Logo Submitted by Georgia State Athletics
Georgia State has a new apparel sponsor. After five years with Nike, the athletic program announced a new deal with Under Armour. The new apparel deal will begin on July 1, 2017. Although exact details have not been finalized, the deal is expected to be seven years.
Under Armour will provide training gear for all 16 varsity sports, as well as for coaches and the athletics department staff.
“We really felt comfortable with Under Armour,” Georgia State athletic director Charlie Cobb said. “We like the quality of the clothing, the shoes, the apparel. We felt like where we want to take our athletic program here fit right in the direction that Under Armour as a company and their vision and where they want to be, so it made for an easy decision.”
Georgia State joins Notre Dame, Maryland, Wisconsin, UCLA, Auburn and South Carolina as NCAA programs that have partnered with the athletic apparel brand.
“If you look at our primary sports- football and basketball. We certainly didn’t want to put our coaches in a situation where they were at a recruiting disadvantage from an apparel standpoint. From a basketball standpoint, there’s a huge Under Armour youth tournament in Atlanta every year,” Cobb said.
Two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry is the biggest basketball name signed to Under Armour, despite having the shoes that were put on blast by social media last season.
Speaking of social media, the initial announcement of the new Georgia State deal on the main athletics account had over 24,000 Twitter impressions in the first day. The news was also the most engaged tweet in the account’s last 90 days.
All of the engagements were not positive, however, as the program leaves the popular Nike brand.
“I think at the end of the day, there’s always brand loyalty. It shows that all these big companies, when they do all of these demographic studies, that there’s a reason you create young viewers. I’m one that watches the news pretty religiously, but I always watch NBC, because I grew up watching the local NBC station where I grew up, so I just inherently go to watch the news on NBC,” Cobb said. “I honestly don’t consider that [fans against Under Armour deal] criticism. Because what it’s telling me is that they have an affinity for Georgia State and they want Georgia State gear.”
The Georgia State University Bookstore will have a limited amount of Under Armour gear available for fans at the homecoming football game against UT Martin on Oct. 22. The apparel is also available online.
