UCLA Gets $19-Million Adidas Deal

For the right to outfit UCLA athletes, Adidas America Inc., will pay the school’s athletic department more than $19 million over six years beginning next July, records show.

The Portland, Ore.-based athletic shoe and clothing company outbid Nike and Reebok in a lengthy process that began early this year, according to records obtained by The Times.

Adidas will pay the school $11,150,000 in cash and provide about $8 million worth of shoes, uniforms and equipment, all emblazoned with the company’s logo.

“We invited proposals from all qualified and interested partners,” Athletic Director Pete Dalis said. “In the end, it was Adidas’ response, [marketing] and promotional support that best met the needs of the university.”

UCLA is in the last year of a six-year contract with Reebok. The new deal should be good news to basketball Coach Steve Lavin and football Coach Bob Toledo.

Their contracts stipulate that UCLA renegotiate their contracts when more lucrative shoe deals are made, records show.

Lavin and Toledo were unavailable to discuss their contracts.

Dalis said the money Adidas is paying goes directly into the athletic department’s budget and will be used to remodel the J.D. Morgan Athletic Center, which houses the athletic department.

Adidas also agreed to keep two full-time representatives on campus, buy $100,000 worth of tickets to UCLA home games, spend $100,000 on bowl, tournament and intramural events, and provide $100,000 worth of equipment to the school’s Spirit Squad and recreation departments.