Nike is quietly turning college football into its personal empire

As the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrated their national championship at the end of last football season, glowing almost as bright as the trophy was a gold Nike swoosh on the chest of each player. Even as the celebration continued and those jerseys were covered with new black championship T-shirts, that gold Nike logo was just covered by another swoosh in the same spot.

Despite the Buckeyes' partnership with Nike, though, Adidas on Wednesday still landed Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith for a deal, but make no mistake, despite that fumble, Nike still owns college football.

Auburn grows Nike's college football takeover

Nike on Tuesday officially added another Power Four school to its long list of partners when Auburn announced it was switching from Under Armour to Nike as the apparel brand for its entire athletic department. Now, there's a giant Nike swoosh at the top of the Tigers' website, and starting this fall, every Auburn athlete will don that same logo on their chest.

Auburn became the 49th Power Four athletic department to be sponsored by Nike. Of the 68 Power Four football programs, including independent Notre Dame, 72% are partnered with Nike for 2025-26. There are also five programs that rep Jordan, which falls under the Nike umbrella so was included as part of Nike's partners.

Adidas, Under Armour and New Balance combine to make up the other lowly 28%, with Adidas leading that trio at 17.6%. Adidas just lost Rutgers to Nike as Nike gained two new schools this year. That put Adidas at 12 partnered Power Four schools now. Next is Under Armour with six and Boston-based New Balance with just one thanks to nearby Boston College.

Next year, Nike's stake in college football will likely only grow. Under Armour's contracts with South Carolina and Wisconsin will expire in 2026. As the only SEC school left with an Under Armour partnership, South Carolina will also likely flip to Nike then. Mississippi State and Texas A&M (both Adidas) would be the the only non-Nike schools left in the SEC. Oklahoma and Florida are also partnered with Jordan.

Nike has plastered college football with running and jumping billboards, plus the thousands of fans in the stadiums also donning the logo who eventually venture out to represent their favorite team (and Nike) everywhere they go. And even when Adidas finally gets its grasp on one of the best players in the sport, he still represents that Nike swoosh.