University of Washington extends relationship with Nike...

The University of Washington issued a release stating that the athletic department and Nike Inc. have agreed to terms on an extensive new 10-year agreement that provides Husky Athletics with nearly three times the resources of the previous agreement between the two parties.

The agreement, which is pending approval by the UW's Board of Regents, becomes effective on July 1, 2009 and expires on June 30, 2019, has a combined minimum monetary and product value of nearly $35 million with additional incentives that could push the value to approximately $39 million over the 10-year term. Nike will remain the exclusive provider of footwear, apparel and equipment for each of the UW's 23 intercollegiate athletic programs.

In addition to an average of $2.6 million per year in product, a key component of the new contract is a cash sponsorship payment worth an average of $725,000 annually to the athletic department.

About Nike
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand; and Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories.

About the University of Washington
Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the West Coast and is one of the preeminent research universities in the world. With an enrollment of more than 45,000 students on its three campuses, the UW every year since 1974 has been the top public university in the nation in competing for federal research grant funding. The UW Medical School is ranked #1 nationally for primary care and the School of Nursing has been ranked the best in the country since rankings began more than two decades ago. The institution as a whole is ranked among the top-20 in the world academically. The UW's main Seattle campus is located on 703 acres on the shore of Lake Washington and Portage Bay and features majestic views of both the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges.

About the University of Washington Athletics Program
The University of Washington's nationally-prominent department of intercollegiate athletics sponsors 23 highly-successful sports programs and is a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division IA) member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Pacific-10 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Husky athletics program has ranked among the top 25 athletic programs nationally for the last eight years, in terms of athletic success, and its student-athletes graduate at the second-highest rate among public institutions on the West Coast. Washington football has appeared in 14 Rose Bowls, the second-most among Pac-10 institutions, and the UW athletics program currently boasts 15 current and former athletes in the Beijing Olympic Games.