Texas About to Cash in on New Apparel Contract

Nike's exclusive negotiating window with Texas over the rights to Longhorn apparel is about to close, and two competitors want the chance to throw more green BEVO's way.

Nike has exclusive negotiating rights for the UT contract until Thursday, but no deal is expected before then. That means Under Armour and Adidas will both get a chance to pay for the right to produce the UT uniforms and other Longhorn gear.

Under Armour won the rights to Notre Dame in 2014 and claims it is the largest deal of its kind and even included an equity stake in the company for Notre Dame. Nike just took Michigan back from Adidas and is paying $169 million over 11 years.

This will be interesting to watch how interim AD Mike Perrin handles this negotiation. His predecessor, Steve Patterson, was more than willing to ditch the market leader in another area, collegiate licensing. Texas will part with the industry leader, Collegiate Licensing Company, , once its agreement expires in June 2016, the Longhorns have led CLC's lists of top sellers of collegiate licensed products every year since winning the National Championship in 2005.

Texas will now work with  Learfield Licensing, and the switch supposedly will save the UT system about $1 million annually. The Longhorns made $7.9 million in net licensing revenue in 2013-14.

The Longhorns current deal with Nike runs through 2016.