U of L finalizes adidas contract

The contract extension between the University of Louisville athletics department and adidas has been finalized and signed, U of L confirmed on Tuesday.

The deal -- the main details of which were reported by The Courier-Journal in October -- runs through the 2017-18 school year, with an option for the two parties to extend the contract through 2018-19, and is worth roughly $39 million.

Louisville's most recent contract with adidas was signed in 2005 and amended in 2011 before the 2014 extension.

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Inside the updated contract, several key numbers stick out:

* U of L is due $1.51 million in base compensation over the 2014-15 school year, with that number increasing each year until it reaches $1.575 million in 2018. In addition to the base pay, adidas will also cover $1.865 million in "product support," or equipment, plus another $440,000 in activation investments this year.

* adidas is responsible for providing, at no additional cost, the following U of L uniforms: strategy jerseys, pants, gloves, cleats, base layers and accessories for the football team; home, away, conference and alternate uniforms for the men's basketball team; home, away and alternate uniforms for the women's basketball team; and an alternate uniform for the baseball team.

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* U of L's coaches will receive, or have already received, some significant bonuses from adidas if their teams perform well.

Each year of the contract, U of L football coach Bobby Petrino is in line for $300,000 if the Cards win a national title or $100,000 if they make the CFB Playoff, and $50,000 if Louisville is ranked in the top 10 or wins the ACC title, or if Petrino wins ACC or national coach of the year

U of L men's hoops coach Rick Pitino also has four non-cumulative bonuses (meaning if Louisville reaches the Elite 8, the Sweet 16 bonus won't count). He'd make $300,000 if U of L wins the national title, $150,000 if the Cards make the Final Four, $75,000 for an Elite 8 appearance and $50,000 for a Sweet 16 run. He'd get another $50,000 if Louisville wins the ACC tournament and $25,000 if Louisville wins the ACC regular-season title.

Both Pitino and women's basketball coach Jeff Walz would receive $15,000 if they win ACC or national coach of the year.

Walz would get $200,000 for a title, $50,000 for a Final Four run, $25,000 for the Elite 8 and $20,000 for a conference tournament or regular-season crown.

For Olympic sports coaches, Tier 1 athletics coaches receive $25,000 for a national title, $15,000 for a Final Four or College World Series appearance, or $10,000 for a conference title. For Tier 2 coaches, those figures for the same accomplishments are $10,000, $7,500 and $5,000, respectively.

The contract defines Tier 1 sports as baseball, lacrosse, men's soccer, softball and volleyball. Tier 2 sports include cheer/dance, cross country, field hockey, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and women's soccer.

* The deal also stipulates two all-expenses-paid promotional appearances for adidas from each U of L athletics coach per year, and three from Pitino.

U of L also receives an annually increasing royalty fee for the use of its logo on adidas products. The Cards get $235,000 this school year, and that number goes up $10,000 each year of the contract. adidas also paid $85,000 at the end of October to help subsidize U of L's internship programs, one of which partners the university's athletics marketing program with adidas.

In return, beyond the money adidas makes off sponsoring U of L in the first place, adidas gets some perks of its own at U of L sporting events, including 12 tickets to football home games and six to men's hoops home games.

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).