Virginia Tech, Nike Agree to Contract

Virginia Tech athletics director Jim Weaver announced on Tuesday that the
athletic department and Nike have agreed to an eight year contract. Nike will
now provide the apparel, shoes and equipment for every sports team at Virginia
Tech. The deal is financially beneficial to Virginia Tech, and will go into
effect on July 1, 2007.

Nike will provide all equipment, uniforms, shoes and other apparel to
Virginia Tech teams for free. They will also pay Virginia Tech an undisclosed
amount each year. Because the contract has not been signed, monetary numbers
were not provided by Weaver. According to the Roanoke Times, UNC is paid
$200,000 per year by Nike, while UVA gets a check for $50,000.

The Tar Heels also receive $18,000,000 worth of free products from Nike. In
the past, individual Virginia Tech teams have made deals with companies for
apparel and equipment, but they have also been forced to buy some equipment. The
deal with Nike will save some programs a lot of money, which they can now use
for recruiting and other purposes.

The deal marks the first time that Virginia Tech has agreed to a
department-wide contract with a company such as Nike. Joining the ACC certainly
helped to sway Nike to agree to the deal. The Hokies have always been on
television a lot in football, but they are also getting a lot of televised games
in men’s basketball, and even some in women’s basketball.

Virginia Tech’s Olympic sports programs have also shown a dramatic
improvement since joining the ACC.

Although the deal with Nike doesn’t officially begin until next summer,
look for the men’s basketball team to be decked out in Nike as early as this
winter. Seth Greenberg signed a deal with Adidas when he arrived at Virginia
Tech, but the two year contract expired following last season.

When the agreement becomes official, Virginia Tech will be one of
approximately 30 schools across the country that has department-wide contracts
with Nike.

The football team did not practice Monday. They were given the day off,
except for the players who were selected to play in the JV game against Fork
Union, who the Hokies beat 27-14.

Virginia Tech will return to practice on Wednesday, and will practice again
on Thursday. They will have Friday off, and there will be another JV game that
day, this time against Hargrave Military Academy.

They will begin normal gameweek preparation for Boston College on Saturday.
Saturday will serve as a regular Monday practice, Sunday will be a regular
Tuesday practice, etc. On Wedsday, Oct. 11, the team will travel to Boston, have
their final walk thru at Alumni Stadium, and then play the Eagles the next day.