http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/01/study_michigans_apparel_contra.html
Michigan may have looked a tad goofy in the Outback Bowl last season, but it was paid well for it.
Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com
Remember all those crazy Adidas uniform combinations Michigan wore over the past year?
The Outback Bowl football jerseys with non-readable numbers in the Florida sun?
The nearly neon look the men's basketball team wore during its 2013 Final Four season?
While a few of those looks may have been hard on the eyes, Michigan strapped those jerseys, pants and shorts on their student-athletes with little hesitation. And, for good reason.
According to a study done by the Portland Business Journal, Michigan's contract with Adidas (which is currently set to expire in 2016) is
the most lucrative public apparel deal in the country. Yes, more than Oregon's flashy contractual arrangement with Nike.
Private schools, like Notre Dame, are not required to make apparel contracts available and they were not included in this study.
Per the study, Michigan currently receives a total of $8.2 million annually from Adidas stemming from the contract signed in 2007 between the two parties.
Michigan receives $4.4 million in equipment and apparel, and $3.8 million in cash. That's more than twice as much as the next-highest school in the Big Ten, Nebraska, which makes a total of $4 million from Adidas.
The highest Nike-earning school in the Big Ten? Ohio State, who hauls in $3.7 million.
Why does Michigan continue to make so much more money from its apparel provider than anyone else nationally? Well,
per the contract, Michigan will always be Adidas' No. 1 school in terms of payment.
The deal reads:
they may never leave