Was Penn State a priority for Nike? Behind the switch from swoosh to stripes
Penn State athletics has spent the last 32 years as apparel partners with Nike, but in just under 10 months, that will come to an end. And it will be replaced by a new 10-year deal with adidas that will begin a new era.
The adidas deal is valued at roughly $300 million in cash, product, considerations for Name, Image and Likeness, and other benefits, according to a source with knowledge of the agreement — and is one that multiple sources said Nike had the right to match if it felt inclined, as is the norm in the industry.
Instead the company declined, paving the way for Penn State’s relationship with adidas and marking the end of one that had begun to sour.
The Nittany Lions, despite consistently competing for championships in several sports — and producing what has become a consistent top-10 program in football — did not feel like a priority to the company, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
Penn State understood Oregon would be treated differently because Nike CEO and co-founder Phil Knights is an Oregon graduate whose family has donated billions to the school. But it was the preferential treatment of other programs within the Big Ten that became a much bigger issue. Multiple sources said Penn State felt it was beneath not just the Ducks, but also Ohio State and Michigan in the pecking order with Nike.
With adidas, the Nittany Lions are expected to be a priority.
Chris McGuire, adidas’ vice president of sports marketing in North America, told the Centre Daily Times that the company views PSU as a “top-flight university.”
And with that reverence comes the added benefit of being one of adidas’ top partners.
“We don’t rank our children, but we know what the ability with Penn State winning what they mean to our brand, and so we want to be one of their top partners, and they will be one of our top partners, 100%,” he said. “They will get their best products we have to offer. We’ll build relationships with their student-athletes. We want to build a strong relationship with the fan base. ... And by no means do we want to take away from the strong history of Penn State Athletics. We want to build off that and continue to tell the story that Penn State wants to tell.”
There were instances that backed up PSU’s belief that Nike did not feel the same way — like when Penn State requested to do multiple program-specific projects that Nike denied. Multiple sources said Penn State requested to wear the gold swoosh on their jerseys for the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame, much like Ohio State had, but it was denied.
And when the department wanted to make Saquon Barkley-branded shoes, it was denied until it became an option as part of the most recent round of negotiations, sources said. And, again, with Nike’s initial offer to Penn State during this round of negotiations, which, according to a source, was lower than Nike’s current deal with the Nittany Lions. Multiple sources also said the shoe giant hasn’t had any major representative on campus since Penn State made a change in athletic directors from Sandy Barbour to Pat Kraft in July 2022.
The CDT reached out to Nike for clarity, and the company declined to address the claims. Instead, it issued a blanket statement.
“For more than 40 years, Nike has been proud to support Penn State and its student-athletes,” the statement read. “As the university begins its next chapter, we thank the Penn State community for decades of partnership and wish the Nittany Lions continued success in the years ahead.”
With adidas, the theme that Penn State felt it wasn’t a priority is expected to change. Like the deal’s value being nearly twice what the contract with Nike was and the bonus structure including much larger payouts, according to multiple sources, like a $1 million bonus for winning a national title in football.
Had the bonus structure with adidas been in place for the 2024-2025 athletic calendar, Penn State could have made 10 times as much as it did with Nike’s bonus structure.
Even former Penn State athletes, like Green Bay Packer Micah Parsons, have seen the benefits of working with adidas.
“Penn State helped mold me into the man I am today, and I’ve experienced firsthand how adidas invests in their athletes with the same championship mindset I adopted in Happy Valley,” Parsons said in a release about the deal. “This partnership is about refusing to settle for anything less than the best for my fellow Nittany Lions.”
Penn State and adidas have already touted the mutual benefits from NIL — adidas has a brand ambassador program — and that aggressiveness from adidas was a selling point for the athletic department, and is something McGuire said is a priority for the company when working with schools.
“I would say NIL, and I’ve used this previously, it’s a new arms race for college athletics,” he said. “Our motto is, ‘only the best for the athletes.’ That’s primarily through a product lens, but anything we can do to support a student-athlete, in this case, to help them achieve their next level of play or help them participate in their sport, is something we’re very interested into. Obviously, it’s a big initiative of ours. We were the first brand to enter the marketplace with our affiliate program. And we’re excited to continue to watch the evolving world of NIL and where it takes us into the future.”
All of that led to the decision for Penn State to move to adidas after what will be 33 years with Nike. Three-plus decades that included PSU frequently re-upping with the company without seriously considering a switch.
And now a new era of Penn State athletic apparel is set to begin — one that will include the German apparel company’s three-stripe logo rather than a Nike swoosh on Nittany Lion uniforms.
This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 3:46 PM.
