MKRob Sports

North Carolina has signed a new 10-year, $37.7 million contract with Nike, with the majority coming in the form of apparel and equipment for the school’s 28 sports teams.

But the most interesting twist on the deal – the Tar Heels’ fourth with Nike – is that all 19 head coaches now have individual deals with the company. UNC athletic director Dick Baddour said he was in negotiations with Nike for more than a year, and getting each coach their own agreement was important this time.

“That was a priority of mine, something that I put on the table early on, because it would help the department to maintain a competitive level in head coaches’ salaries without having to generate the income through ticket sales and student fees and private funds,” Baddour said Wednesday. “I’m pleased that Nike was willing to do that.”

As part of UNC’s previous contract with Nike, announced in 2001, only seven coaches (football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, baseball and track and field) had separate contracts with the company. Those deals ranged from $15,000 for baseball and men’s soccer to $500,000 for men’s basketball.

The school no longer releases figures for the individual deals, Baddour said, but “the amounts are in balance with their salaries,” meaning that the coaches paid the most by UNC also have the more lucrative deals with Nike.

UNC signed its new contract with Nike in late May, but its benefits are retroactive to July 1, 2008. Under the deal, Nike will pay a 14 percent royalty on the sale of Carolina-logoed merchandise. It also includes provisions that all of the gear provided to Tar Heels teams be manufactured in accordance with the university’s labor standards, which cover issues such as pay and benefits, hours, child labor and safety.

The contract breaks down like this:

$31.6 million – ranging from $2.8 million in the first year of the contract, to $3.4 million in the 10th – for uniforms, coaching gear, shoes, balls and other equipment for all teams. In past years, Baddour said, some teams had to pay for some of those items out of their operating budgets, but the increase in this contract should cover it all.

$2 million for the Chancellor’s Academic Enhancement Fund, an increase of $1.2 million over the last contract. Chancellor Holden Thorp says he will direct the funds to faculty support, according to the news release, which should help at a time when university cuts are imminent.

$1.625 million for team travel and trips.

$1 million for signing the contract; those funds will be used to overhaul the lighting and sound systems at the Dean Smith Center.

$1 million to fund bonus payments to the coaches based on achievements of excellence by their respective student-athletes in the classroom and on their fields of play.

$450,000 for University-sponsored tournaments.