Ole Miss and adidas announced a seven-year partnership on Wednesday and the fan base spent the afternoon celebrating a roster move that has not happened. Here are the numbers from the school’s own release. Seven years. Eighteen varsity programs. Footwear, uniforms, apparel and sideline gear. And a start date of July 1, 2027 — which is not this season, not the Vanderbilt game on Saturday, not Texas, not Georgia, not the Egg Bowl, and not next spring either. The current contract runs through June of 2027. The deal that broke the internet does not put one shirt on one player on this roster for another 266 days. The release also discloses no dollar figure at all. None. So every number you saw attached to it yesterday came from somebody’s estimate rather than from Ole Miss. Which is why the sentence that matters is Keith Carter’s second one, not his first. The vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics says the partnership will provide important resources, including “increased NIL opportunities that will help us attract and retain elite talent and compete for championships.” That is an apparel contract being sold to you as a payroll mechanism. Not jerseys. Money for players. And that is why the start date matters more than the seven years does. The recruits this is actually aimed at are the ones Ole Miss is chasing right now, for classes that arrive when the money does. The honest counterweight: a release says what a school wants it to say, and no figure has been attached to that NIL line publicly. Carter also went out of his way to say adidas “understands and respects what makes Ole Miss special, including our iconic colors, marks and uniforms” — so the jersey question is not nothing either. Does an apparel deal change how you feel about this roster? Tell me in the comments. Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy. #OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #adidas #NIL #CollegeFootball
Ole Miss and adidas announced a seven-year partnership on Wednesday and the fan base spent the afternoon celebrating a roster move that has not happened.
Here are the numbers from the school’s own release. Seven years. Eighteen varsity programs. Footwear, uniforms, apparel and sideline gear. And a start date of July 1, 2027 — which is not this season, not the Vanderbilt game on Saturday, not Texas, not Georgia, not the Egg Bowl, and not next spring either. The current contract runs through June of 2027. The deal that broke the internet does not put one shirt on one player on this roster for another 266 days.
The release also discloses no dollar figure at all. None. So every number you saw attached to it yesterday came from somebody’s estimate rather than from Ole Miss.
Which is why the sentence that matters is Keith Carter’s second one, not his first. The vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics says the partnership will provide important resources, including “increased NIL opportunities that will help us attract and retain elite talent and compete for championships.” That is an apparel contract being sold to you as a payroll mechanism. Not jerseys. Money for players.
And that is why the start date matters more than the seven years does. The recruits this is actually aimed at are the ones Ole Miss is chasing right now, for classes that arrive when the money does.
The honest counterweight: a release says what a school wants it to say, and no figure has been attached to that NIL line publicly. Carter also went out of his way to say adidas “understands and respects what makes Ole Miss special, including our iconic colors, marks and uniforms” — so the jersey question is not nothing either.
Does an apparel deal change how you feel about this roster? Tell me in the comments.
Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.
#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #adidas #NIL #CollegeFootball