Report: UK Athletics expected to continue deal with Nike long-term

UK Athletics is expected to re-sign with Nike long-term, according to Cats Illustrated’s Jeff Drummond. The previous deal expired following the 2024-25 season and is likely to “dwarf the previous one.”

Kentucky has been a Nike school since 1997. Their most recent deal, which was signed in 2013, was valued at $47 million. This will be the third extension since the original deal almost 30 years ago. KSR’s Matt Jones confirmed that the deal will be signed sometime this week.

Before Kentucky was with Nike, Converse was the main athletics apparel sponsor for the Wildcats. Interestingly, Adidas made a bid to sponsor the program way back before Nike swooped in during the late 90s but was “rejected” by the university. One year later, UK ditched Converse to sign a lucrative deal to don the Swoosh long-term — and it’s still going strong to this day.

Nike eventually acquired Converse in 2003 for $305 million, and UK men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope hinted that there could be potential for some of those old Converse uniforms — which Pope himself wore while he was a player for UK — to make a comeback. This new deal will give them more than enough time to work out these kinks.

“I’m not really allowed to say this, so it’s just between the two of us: I’m working on it,” Pope said of potential throwback, or alternate uniforms being worn during the 2025-26 season, via KSR. “It’s amazing the red tape that we have to go through to make this happen, but we’re pretty passionate about trying to make that happen.

“We’ll see what we come up with. It’s definitely on my agenda of things to get accomplished.”

It appears easier said than done getting the Wildcats in some alternate uniforms. However, it looks to be on Pope’s list of things to do moving forward.

Of course, the apparel sponsorship extends throughout the athletic department. In turn, the Nike Swoosh is visibly present on just about everything Kentucky around Lexington. It appears like that will continue as the status quo for the foreseeable future as Nike doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.

The renewed deal between UK Athletics and Nike is set to go into effect beginning this fall during the 2025-26 athletics calendar. The details of it, such as the length of the deal remains to be seen.