Under Armour releases shirzees with four schools ahead of NCAA Tournament

Under Armour continues to invest in NIL.

The sportswear company has only ramped up its activity in the space in the last 12 months. South Carolina star Aliyah Boston signed a multi-year agreement last year. Last month, the brand signed endorsement deals with a number of athletes to promote the Spawn 5 Carnival Pack sneaker.

Ahead of March Madness, it has signed NIL deals with athletes from the Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Utah women’s basketball teams. Each athlete has a shirzee on Under Armour’s website and will receive an undisclosed profit from the sales.

The T-shirts go for $45 and are unisex. Under Armour is the apparel sponsor for each institution.

A number of athletes from the schools have already taken to social media to promote the apparel. Utah and Notre Dame’s team accounts have promoted the NIL opportunity on Instagram.

Learfield’s CLC represents the Gamecocks, Utes and Terrapins. The Fighting Irish work with Fanatics’ licensing management. South Carolina set the precedent last year, launching the shirzees ahead of its eventual national title run.

Before the name, image and likeness era, athletes were not able to receive any profits from their jersey sales. Now in the last 20 months, that has completely changed. Fans are now able to also purchase merchandise that has their favorite player’s name on it, too. Fanatics launched its NIL jersey program storefront back in September.

It is also a win for the school. Each shirzee features the institutions’ marks, only strengthening the brand awareness.

The women’s NCAA Tournament begins Wednesday with the First Four games. First-round playing starts Friday. South Carolina finished the regular season undefeated and will enter March Madness as the top-overall seed.

Notre Dame is a No. 3 seed and will host an opening round game. Utah claimed a share of the Pac-12 regular season title will be a No. 2  seed, hosting the 15th seed Gardner-Webb on Friday night.

Second-seeded Maryland opens its NCAA Tournament run against Holy Cross in College Park on Friday.