Under Armour an interested observer of UH’s Sydney trip

One of the most important of the nearly 200 people listed in the University of Hawaii’s official party for Friday’s football game in Australia isn’t a player or a coach. `

In fact, it isn’t a UH or state employee at all.

It is Brian Calabrese, the director of marketing for Under Armour, a major player in the sports apparel and shoe industry.

Calabrese’s spot in the party is due to Under Armour being a diamond level sponsor of UH athletics. Sponsors at that level ($150,000 and above annually) are permitted one UH-funded trip a year per contract. In this case airfare and accommodation for up to 200 people are underwritten by the sponsor of the Sydney event, TLA Ltd.

Actually, UH’s take on the Under Armour contract is approximately $587,000 in cash, apparel and marketing support this year and more than $4.5 million over the life of their nine-year association, making it one of the most lucrative apparel and shoe deals for a non-Power Five conference member.

But the original eight-year contract expired June 30 and a temporary extension, which was to give the parties more time to talk and revisit the landscape, ends next year.

At this point there is no assurance there will be a new contract or if it will remain the same or escalate.

With that uncertainty, UH watched with some trepidation while Under Armour has reached mega deals with Power Five conference schools this spring.

California, the Rainbow Warriors’ Friday opponent, signed a 10-year deal with Under Armour in April said to be worth nearly $86 million in cash and product. In May, UCLA landed a 15-year, $280 million deal said to be the richest such arrangement in college sports history.

Meanwhile in Manoa you can see UH mentally doing the math and wondering if, following the avalanche of moolah, whether there is any cash left for a mid-major school in the Pacific.

UH struck its previous agreement with Under Armour in heady times, less than two months after the 2008 Sugar Bowl appearance, when the ‘Bows were viewed as an emerging football program.

That allowed them to get in on the ground floor as one of the first non-Power Five conference members to get a cash and trade deal with Under Armour. In subsequent years the agreement was expanded to several other UH sports.

Since then Under Armour has expanded a stable that in addition to recent additions Cal and UCLA, includes Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Auburn, Maryland and South Carolina.

These days, mid-majors find deals for cash and cache. Schools like to tell recruits they are an Under Armour, Nike or adidas team for the brand association prestige it confers.

While UH officials have declined to discuss their talks with Under Armour, they took it as a portentous sign that Calabrese was interested enough to make the trip. And, more than koalas and kangaroos, they clearly hope to use the opportunity to demonstrate an improving football team on the field and the athletic department’s growing reach off of it.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.