Cal to Under Armour: “You do not have grounds for termination”

The fight has been taken to Under Armour by the California Golden Bears Athletic Department. In a statement from the university, Cal states that the apparel brand does not hold reasonable action in terminating the contract signed with Cal in 2016.

“While we understand that we are in challenging times, we have been and remain committed to our partnership with Under Armour. We are confident that we are fulfilling the terms of our agreement and that Under Armour does not have grounds for termination. We know that UA has put years into building its college business, and we have done and will continue to do everything in our power to help them succeed. Cal Athletics remains steadfast in its commitment to support its student-athletes with the apparel and footwear they need to train, compete and succeed in their chose athletic fields.”

Cal’s branding was removed from the Under Armour website over the weekend, almost seemingly exactly as they announced they were terminating their record deal with UCLA.

The Maryland-based company signed on the dotted line with Cal back in 2016 to a 10-year, $86 million deal. Though it wasn’t even close to the UCLA deal worth $280 million, it still was a large contract during the time in which Under Armour was shelling out millions in deals across the country.

COVID-19 and multiple recent quarters of terrible sales have now caught up with Under Armour and they threatened to terminate the deal with Cal as such.

With Cal’s recent backlash to the threat, we’re now in a standstill until one side makes another move. We’ll be mindful of all the happenings as we know more.