Best Brands For College Sports

By Christy Flom on April 17, 2015

When I was younger I wanted to be a college athlete purely because I thought they got the coolest things for free from the sports brand that sponsored their school.

Growing up and playing sports, I quickly fell in love with a select few brands that I like to have for all of my different equipment. From shoes to headbands, I like to go back to the same brands every year.

For college athletes, equipment is not always about what is the most comfortable or an athlete’s personal preference. Once you join a school-sponsored team, you join the school sponsored athletic brand as well.

For many schools, these sports brands usually vary from the most popular brand of Nike to the still popular but less dominant brands of Adidas and Under Armour.

Starting with Nike, I’d say about 2/3 of college football teams are Nike sponsored and 1/3 are Adidas. Under Armour isn’t really seen in the football venue that much as they sponsor only about eight major conference football teams.

When people generally think of sweet football jerseys, Oregon immediately comes to mind. With new jerseys seemingly every game, with different combinations of neon colors incorporated into their jerseys and shoes, Nike has created a domineering presence in college football.

Since most schools are pretty consistent in what brand they use across the entire span of sports teams, Nike also tends to dominate basketball. However, we did have one Adidas brand team make it to the Championship game this year. Wisconsin represented the Adidas symbol proudly during their run in March Madness.

Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the tournament jerseys created for teams sponsored by Adidas. The strip or block of color at the top of the pants did not look great as the players ran up and down the court. Michigan had similar jerseys and I think Adidas tried to switch it up a bit too much this year with the uniforms.

Adidas is a brand that is well known in the soccer arena, more so than football and basketball. Along with Puma, these brands dominate the cleat and equipment products.

In the professional field, Adidas used to be a clear out-right winner in comparison to Nike and Puma, but recent reports from bbc.com are saying that now Nike has edged out Adidas in sponsoring professional teams. Either way, the two brands continue to fight over teams in the MLS.

Image via flickr.com by Leo Reynolds.

However, while Under Armour may not be a top contender for basketball and football, it is a top equipment brand for hockey players. Along with Bauer Hockey Equipment, Under Armour gets a lot of business for hockey players. Whether it is the padding or jerseys for varsity or club college players, these two brands are go-to sites for hockey equipment.

Under Armour, like Nike and Adidas, is also a big golf equipment brand. If anyone watched the Master’s this past weekend, they would know that 21-year-old Jordan Spieth took home the green jacket, and guess what he was wearing from basically head to toe? Under Armour.

As for actual golfing clubs and balls, the most popular brands by far are Titleist and Nike.

Professional golfers often switch back and forth between these two brands, making them very popular among college students.

Image via Flickr.com by Chris Swann.

Changing sports, collegiate runners again will rep whatever brand their school supports. For example Michigan runners, like the football and basketball players, wear Adidas equipment.

However, club runners and NARPs (non-athletic regular people) tend to lean towards Nike. I ran a 5k race last weekend for a fundraiser and realized I was expecting to see Nike clothing on people. When runners were wearing other brands it was surprising to me.

This may be partly because Nike has a huge media audience through their commercials and the trademark Nike “swoosh” that comes on all of their products. As they continually create new and inspiring advertisements, wearing Nike has almost become expected of athletes these days.

I have several friends who love Nike and to be honest you would think they were actually sponsored by Nike by how much they wear the different products.

Nike may be a “coolness” factor for students these days, but the other brands are just as good. They may not spend millions of dollars on promoting themselves through the media each year, but that’s also probably why some products from Adidas and Under Armour are less expensive. I know I don’t buy a lot of Nike products unless it’s at the Factory store or in the sale section.

Prices aside, Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour are the three big brands of college students these days. With the trademarks of each brand nationally known, no athlete can go wrong choosing from these three top tier companies.

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