On Aug. 8, the University of Kentucky announced it had signed a 10-year contract extension with Nike. Kentucky signed its previous deal with the apparel company in 2013. On Tuesday, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart pulled back the curtain on the school’s decision to re-sign with Nike.
“There was a couple things. We got more product, which is really important for us,” Barnhart said. “There is some money obviously involved in some of these other deals. We used an opportunity to go grab more product for our program. We’re spending more money away from our contract previously. We wanted to begin to do a better job, I think, of managing our gear and things that we’re getting back.
“I feel like we’re in a good spot. That landscape will continue to change as well. I’m not concerned that we didn’t get a good deal… We really have enjoyed our partnership with Nike. They’ve great to us and we feel really good about how we would be able to manage it. There’ll be savings on our side that will be reflected more in the dollars.”…