New contract with Nike garners different opinions

In the past, the school sports teams have ordered uniforms and apparel from different brands. Last year, the school made an agreement with Nike to buy all their sports apparel from Nike in exchange for large discounts on Nike merchandise. The fact that all sports uniforms will be from Nike has sparked some varying opinions among student athletes.

Sophomore football player Zach Hansen says he is happy with the new agreement because Nike has all the gear the football team needs. The players get discounts on cleats, gloves, socks and other apparel from Nike.

"[The contract] is pretty awesome," said Hansen. "There are no disadvantages at all."

Senior tennis captain Mary Edman, however, feels that the Nike contract was not much of a benefit for the tennis team.

"Unfortunately for us, Nike doesn't make great uniforms in red," said Edman. "Also, everything from Nike is really expensive."

Another downside for Edman and the tennis team was that they did not find out about the Nike sponsorships and the team discounts until June of last year. The tennis team had already decided on uniforms from different brands when they had been notified that all their apparel was to be from Nike.

"We had already picked out a uniform that wasn't Nike, so we had to redo everything," said Edman.
Sophomore cross country runner David Zarrin liked the idea of being sponsored by Nike but did not like the new shorts that came with the uniform.

"Everything was good except the shorts, which were way too short," said Zarrin. "I'm glad the contract is with Nike, though, instead of a different company like Adidas."

Many people feel that this contract is another example of how the football team is favored over other sports. While the football team only benefited from the contract, other sports had to experience the negative repercussions of purchasing solely from Nike. They feel that this is just another way that football gets more attention over the other sports.

"Football is exciting," said Edman, "but tennis is just as good, and we don't get nearly the same hype as the football team."

Tennis, despite winning CCS last year, still has difficulty getting people to watch the matches.
"It's like people don't really care about tennis, even though our team won CCS last year," said Edman.

Athletic Director Peter Jordan said the agreement with Nike eliminated the confusion that comes with ordering from different vendors. With a single vendor, they can order any quantity of equipment they need, and better coordinate the ordering of uniforms.

"It takes a lot of work off my shoulders," said Jordan.