Canadian University sports had a groundbreaking moment Friday morning at Ryerson University. 

 U Sports, the governing body of Canadian collegiate sports announced a partnership with American sporting apparel brand Nike.

The two companies have partnered on a five-year agreement which will make Nike the official supplier for all U Sports branded material. This includes merchandise for each national championship, the annual meeting and select all-star teams representing U Sports.

With the growth of collegiate sports north of the 49th parallel since the bodys rebrand from CIS to U Sports has been insurmountable. CIS was not contracted for a television broadcast deal, but U Sport has been with Rogers Sportsnet for the last few years. 

The partnership with Nike gives U Sports a known quality throughout all of its apparel and will bring more publicity to the growing brand that is U SPorts. This is not the first time that the organization has teamed up with a well-known company. Until the winter of 2018, there was a deal with Adidas, however, neither side was too happy with the benefits of one another and were not prepared to further their engagement. 

In an interview with Hayden Godfrey of Ryerson University’s The Eyeopener, a U Sports spokesperson said that “Adidas was not prepared to step up in the way that Nike was.” 

That way is the new “Future stars” project which is being launched for high school students in Canada. The goal of the project is to create a more well-known reputation around university sports, aiding the aspirations of Candian high school athletes to Canadian schools rather than those south of the border. 

The deal and common goal set U Sports up for a five year period of growth, and hopefully a platform where they will get more public attention.