Under Armour, Fanatics, and the MLB officially announce uniform partnership

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Dec 5, 2016

Under Armour, Fanatics and Major League Baseball on Monday officially announced their partnership that makes the sportswear company the official uniform provider for the MLB. The 10-year partnership is Under Armour’s first-ever professional league uniform deal.

 
Beginning in 2020, Under Armour will be the exclusive MLB provider of all on-field uniform components including jerseys, baselayer, game-day outerwear, and year-round training apparel for all 30 MLB Clubs. The uniforms will feature prominent Under Armour branding.
 
In addition, Fanatics will be granted broad consumer product licensing rights to manage the manufacturing and distribution of Under Armour and Fanatics fan gear including jerseys at retail, name & number products, and Postseason apparel. The global licensed sports merchandise leader has been in partnership with the MLB since 2002.

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"Under Armour is proud of our long-standing relationship with MLB and we look forward to this exciting next chapter. This is a watershed moment for the Under Armour brand as this partnership with MLB and Fanatics furthers our collective dedication to bringing passion, energy and innovation to the game of baseball," said Kevin Plank, Founder and CEO, Under Armour. "Under Armour's goal is to engage and excite MLB's incredibly diverse fan-base across America and around the world, and grow the game for the next generation of great athletes."
 
Under Armour has been in partnership with the MLB since 2000 as an official baselayer supplier. The sportswear company debuted its first baseball cleat collection in 2006 and was named the official performance footwear partner of the MLB in 2011. Today, Under Armour has over 400 individual athlete partnerships across the major and minor leagues including 2012 National League MVP Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants, 2014 National League MVP and three-time National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and 2015 National League MVP Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals.
 
The press first reported the Under Armour, Fanatics, MLB deal in October. The new partnership is to replace the MLB’s current partnership with Majestic and Nike, which ends in 2019. Nike signed with the MLB in 2009 and Majestic entered a partnership with the MLB in 2005.
 
Also in October, Under Armour reported its slowest quarterly sales growth in six years partly due to Sports Authority’s bankruptcy this year. Third quarter net income increased to $128.2 million and earnings per share increased to $0.29.