Any publicity is good publicity, right? I suppose that’s Nike’s thought here. They’ll be paying the University of Washington Huskies (whose football team is 0-10 and whose basketball team just lost to Portland) $33.8 million over 10 years to gird their athletes’ loins in the Swoosh. The agreement dictates that Nike will provide UW with $2.6 million per year in equipment as well as annual cash payments of $725,000 for their 23 programs. I presume most of them are more successful than their football team. Incentives included, the deal could be worth as much as $39 million.
On a related topic, Washington will meet Washington State Saturday in the Apple Cup, which this year is the Super Bowl of Inferiority. Will UW go winless (losing to Cal is a foregone conclusion)? Is WSU really as bad as they looked in the numerous games in which they gave up 60+ points? Only time will tell, although NikeBlog is predicting a game in which inexplicably both teams are able to lose.