PORTLAND, Ore. — When the Ohio State Buckeyes took the court for March Madness a decade ago, the university's athletic teams got $3.8 million in cash and apparel annually from Nike.
Since then, the annual value of the school's Nike deal has increased 179 percent to $10.6 million, a reflection of the booming business of NCAA apparel deals.
SLIDESHOW: 33 biggest NCAA apparel deals
The Business Journal writes annual public records requests with all universities in the top division of college sports. It has obtained the contracts of 33 of the 68 teams in this year's NCAA men's basketball championship tournament. (Private schools aren't required to disclose contracts. The Business Journal hasn't requested the contracts of the smallest schools in the tournament.)
Click through the slideshow to see a countdown of the 33 deals.
Sports business experts say the deals are a bargain given the popularity of college sports and the the fact that college students are upwardly mobile.
A 2013 Business Journal series looked at the size of NCAA apparel deals, where the money goes and whether small companies are getting unfairly pushed aside. A 2017 story went behind the scenes on a Nike junket for athletic directors.
The Portland Business Journal is a KGW News partner.
