Mississippi State University Inks Adidas Extension

Mississippi State University (MSU) have announced a new seven-year extension with adidas worth more than $17 million.

In 2009 Mississippi State agreed to a 5-year deal worth $3 million in product. The new deal spans seven years worth $17.5 million in both product and cash.

“Loyalty is important and adidas came to us when we may not have been as appealing,” MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin said. “They outperformed. They went above and beyond. And our coaches are incredibly happy with that relationship.”

Fans haven’t always been pleased with adidas. One of the biggest complaints involves the similarity between Mississippi State and Texas A&M’s uniforms.

“I’ll be really honest, as we’ve moved into the last couple of years things have gotten a little closer than we’d like them to be,” Adidas’ Director of football Mark Daniels said. “We are diligently focused on separating them even more.”

When Mississippi State originally signed its deal with Adidas MSU and A&M were in separate conferences. The Aggies joined the SEC in 2012. When that happened the similarities were highlighted.

“You’ve got two very similar schools both in the same sub-division of the same conference, that both have the same colors, you start with that,” Daniels said. “Ok, there’s a lot of heritage, a lot of tradition at both schools. We have to be honest and respect that and separate where we can.”