Here’s how much Nike will pay UK as part of 10-year contract extension
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- Nike and UK Athletics signed a 10-year apparel deal effective July 1, 2025.
- Nike will provide $7M in gear annually, increasing to $7.5M starting in 2030.
- The deal includes royalties and performance bonuses worth at least $4M total.
Much is changing in the world of UK athletics following the approval of the NCAA’s House legal settlement in July.
But even as the department shifts to an LLC and begins distributing revenue directly to athletes, at least one longtime partner is remaining the same: UK athletes and coaches will continue to wear Nike gear for at least the next 10 years.
Earlier this summer, UK and Nike agreed to a 10-year extension of their apparel contract that went into effect July 1 and runs through the 2034-35 school year.
Per the terms of the extension, which was obtained by the Herald-Leader through the state’s open records law, the annual allotment of Nike gear the apparel company will provide to the athletic department increases from $2.125 million last year to $7 million in 2025-26. That rate stays the same for the next five years before increasing to $7.5 million in 2030-31.
UK’s previous deal with Nike, signed in 2013, included an additional payment of $1.8 million per year from Nike to the school. The extension swaps that payment for a cumulative royalty agreement in which Nike pays UK a 15% royalty on the sale of all products but shoes that include UK logos. Nike will pay UK a 5% royalty on shoe sales.
Over the 10-year deal, Nike must pay UK at least $4 million in royalties. Nike will pay UK additional bonuses for success in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball ranging from $10,000 for reaching the conference championship game in football, winning the conference tournament in basketball and reaching a super regional in baseball or softball to $100,000 for winning a football national championship.
In a sign of the growing importance of success in football to the college sports landscape even at a basketball power like Kentucky, the bonuses for football success are cumulative, meaning Kentucky could earn up to $230,000 on the way to winning the SEC and national championship in the same season, while UK can only receive the largest individual bonus earned in basketball, baseball and softball. UK would receive $50,000 for winning a national championship in women’s or men’s basketball and $25,000 for winning one in baseball or softball.
The previous contract included a clause that allowed Nike to cut its compensation to UK by 70% if men’s basketball was barred from television appearances as part of NCAA probation and 30% for the same penalties in football. In the extension, those penalties are a 50% reduction in base compensation and product allotment for a football television ban and 25% for a television ban in men’s or women’s basketball.
Nike will offer one summer internship per year to a UK student picked by the university and/or athletic department.
UK will provide Nike 12 season tickets for football, eight for men’s basketball, eight for women’s basketball and up to eight for other sports. UK would also provide 12 tickets per football playoff round or bowl game if the team reaches postseason play and eight tickets per postseason tournament round in men’s and women’s basketball. Nike will also receive 38 additional tickets to one regular season home football game, 42 for one men’s basketball game and 42 for one women’s basketball game each year.
UK teams have worn Nike gear since 1997.
The largest reported contract between Nike and a college is the 15-year, $252 million deal the company signed with Ohio State in 2016. Louisville signed the largest reported contract with Adidas in 2017 for $160 million over 10 years.. UK’s new contract would be worth at least $76.5 million with the potential to grow depending on the total royalty payments over the course of the 10 years.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 6:45 AM.