Penn State has officially ended its 33-year partnership with Nike and begun a new one with Adidas. The switch, which was finalized in June 2025, came with a reported $300 million offer across 10 years.
A Massive Undertaking
The university had to reoutfit all 31 of its sports teams, as well as every member of the athletic department staff. This included distributing over 150,000 pieces of athletic gear, including 6,500 pairs of shoes, across campus in less than a month.
Ben Herman, the Penn State assistant athletic director for equipment operations, oversaw the massive undertaking. Herman and his team spent 43 weeks preparing for the switch, which involved sorting and distributing the new gear, as well as removing all Nike branding from the campus.
A New Era
The switch to Adidas is seen as a way to give Penn State’s student-athletes every possible advantage. Adidas has been making a big push in the college space, signing deals with other universities and creating critical Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities for individual athletes.
The university hosted two surplus sales to get rid of the old Nike gear, with fans able to purchase items such as cleats, polos, and football jerseys at discounted prices. The old gear that didn’t sell was boxed up and stored away to be sold at a later date.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
