I had to learn all about Nike's sponsorship stuff for a high school project once, so this is shaky at best and most of what I remember:
Nike has 4 (I believe it's 4) sponsorship levels for teams/programs. Oregon is the only school on level 4 (no shock there) and "Elite" is level 3. It means better quality products, more options, more "donated" items, more apparel available, etc., etc. By donated items I mean this--Nike "gives" schools their uniforms, gloves, cleats, etc. free of charge. In turn they plaster their logo all over and reap the advertising benefits of it. Other Elite schools are Florida State, Southern California, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, etc., mostly "big-time" programs.
So why is
ISU so high? Our merchandise sells. If
ISU apparel from Nike is shipped to a Nike store in Timbuktu, the alumni in the area will by it. If apparel hit the shelves in downtown NYC, alumni will buy it. Some schools have strong sports but their alumni aren't that interested in buying apparel. They don't sell--Nike doesn't make anything.
It also helps that our ENTIRE athletic dept is Nike sponsored. There are some schools where the basketball team will be Adidas, the Football team Nike, and the baseball team Under Armour.
With Nike Elite, we get the best of the best in equipment. With it comes some more responsibility, like less leeway if a team is shown sporting non-Nike. If our Nike rep stood on our sideline for a game and a coach was wearing an Adidas cap or a player had an Under Armour sweatband, they could, theoretically, pull our sponsorship on the spot, levy a hefty fine against us, or greatly reduce their 'donations' for the next year. It's a finicky (sp?) business and they're paying schools big (HUGE) bucks to wear their products, they don't pay them to wear someone else's gear. Heck, even Va Tech as punished for their little incident at Ga Tech when they forgot the uniforms of 3 or 4 players and they wore Russell gear that GT gave them.
