Dear Under Armour, Welcome to UCLA!

UCLA and Under Armour have inked a 15-year deal worth $280 million, so from all of us at Go Joe Bruin, we say “Welcome!”

Dear Under Armour, Welcome to Westwood!

Usually, we here at Go Joe Bruin save that phrase for when a recruit commits or signs with a UCLA team, so it seems fitting that the biggest signing in college sports apparel history gets that type of “welcome”.

Oh yeah, “Boom!”, “8 clap!” and “4sUp!” to you as well, Under Armour!

Personally, I am a diehard Adidas fan. Back in 1999 when UCLA signed with them after ditching Reebok, I was ecstatic. I have worn Adidas my whole life (thanks, dad!) and could not wait to get my first piece of UCLA-Adidas gear when that deal went through.

UCLA Bruins

Seventeen years later, I have a closet full.

Though today, admittedly, I am a bit sad to see UCLA part ways with the 3 stripes, but things needed to change. Let us look at UCLA’s jerseys the last few years for example, specifically football and basketball where Adidas have veered from the traditional Bruin uniforms. Adidas had their chances to do right by Bruins, but the UCLA faithful was not satisfied.

Though I personally loved the majority of the uniforms, there have been some erroneous design flaws throughout the years (I will never forgive Adidas for Zubaz!). Additionally, marketing concerns did not give UCLA the wide spread attention it needed.

So with Under Armour taking over, I welcome them and their ideas with hope they can bring UCLA Athletics all that a $280 million deal is worth.

As my Go Joe Bruin associate Nathan Eberhardt wrote in his article UCLA Apparel Hot Takes, “the chief reason to go with Under Armour is that they will be motivated to work for UCLA.”

With the deal done, we will now see what Under Armour can do for UCLA (and vice versa) and hopefully promote them as the school with the most NCAA Championships should be promoted.

With that, there are a few things I would like to address with you Under Armour….

1. Please make the shoulder stripes go all the way around the shoulder of the football uniforms and not have it look like a v-neck.
2. If you could also return the football pants back to their original gold color, that would be great.
3. Nothing close to Zubaz. Ever!
4. Can you make a general “cool” looking UCLA t-shirt (that doesn’t cost $40)?
5. Can you make striped kits for the UCLA Men’s and Women’s soccer teams AND make them available to the public? Thanks!

And with that I will end with the marketing aspect of this deal. Under Armour, I know we just met, but if you could stock Los Angeles clothing retailers with UCLA gear to at least match the competing USC-Nike apparel, that would be fantastic.

Just start sending UCLA gear to stores like Target, Costco and Macy’s as well as sports apparel stores (if they still exist) like Big 5, Sports Chalet and Sports Authority. Send it all! Take over LA, please!

The following video of the UCLA-Under Armour press conference comes courtesy of Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the LA Daily News.

Next: Ranking the 2016 UCLA Football Schedule By Difficulty

It is nice to make your acquaintance Under Armour and hope to be purchasing your UCLA products as soon as possible. Go Bruins!