Baylor School football Coach Phil Massey holds up a new jersey provided by Under Armour inside the Baylor School equipment room on Thursday. Under Armour also has sent Baylor School cleats, practice apparel, new footballs and athletic tape, among other things.
Staff photo by Alex Washburn/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Newly delivered cleats from Under Armour sit on top of their box in the Baylor School equipment room on Thursday. The football program at Baylor recently switched its sponsorship from Nike to Under Armour.
Staff photo by Alex Washburn/Chattanooga Times Free Press
New Baylor School football uniforms stitched with a U and A instead of a swoosh sit in the equipment room at Baylor School on Thursday. Baylor’s football program received sponsorship from Nike for a number of years before switching to Under Armour.
Staff photo by Alex Washburn/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Pete Jordan, a sales representative of Sports Spectrum, delivers football equipment and supplies to Baylor School on behalf of Under Armour on Thursday. Baylor School’s football program received Nike apparel for many years before making the recent switch.
Staff photo by Alex Washburn/Chattanooga Times Free Press
A newly delivered Wilson football sits inside the Baylor School equipment room on Thursday. The football program at Baylor recently switched its sponsorship from Nike to Under Armour, which has provided the team with new footballs, uniforms and cleats, among other things.
Staff photo by Alex Washburn/Chattanooga Times Free PressBy the numbers
$15,000-$25,000: Value of the average high school contract in apparel, shoes and accessories with one of the “big three” athletic outfitters$70,000: Estimated value of a three-year deal offered to one local school34: Number of Under Armour sales representatives nationally$50,000: Average cost to outfit a high school football team for one season
The recruiting competition for high school athletic talent no longer stops with the players on the field.
The race to land exclusive rights to outfit the best prep programs can be a lucrative deal for the big three sports equipment providers – Adidas, Nike and Under Armour. And the price those three nationally known companies are willing to pay to secure those rights runs into the tens of thousands of dollars for the high schools.
Such deals can mean anything from reduced prices on equipment like football helmets and shoulder pads to free apparel for all of a school’s sports teams plus the gear discounts. That can add up to big savings for schools when some pay as much as $50,000 annually to outfit just their football teams.
“It used to be just the college programs that had endorsement deals, but now it’s trickled down to a lot of high schools, too,” East Hamilton football coach Ted Gatewood said. “With college programs, the companies have to give them millions of dollars for the right to outfit them. With high schools, they just give us discounts or free merchandise. But there’s a lot of money to be made by outfitting high school kids.”