UCLA Bruins

Could UCLA be next to leave Adidas?

Published Jul. 7, 2015 2:56 p.m. ET

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Michigan made headlines when it announced it was dropping Adidas and returning to Nike beginning in August 2016.

The Wolverines were arguably the top program in Adidas' collegiate portfolio ahead of Nebraska, Wisconsin and UCLA.

When the Bruins ditched Reebok in favor of Adidas in 1999, the fan base was excited about the opportunity for more exposure for a program that deserved it after a national basketball championship in 1995 and Rose Bowl berths in 1994 and 1999. There also was UCLA football's impressive seven-game winning streak over USC in the mid 1990s.

When UCLA reached an agreement to stick with Adidas in 2010, a once excited fan base seemed skeptical. Bruins Nation conducted a poll in 2009 and a whopping 66 percent favored a switch to another brand, preferably Nike.

Joey Kaufman at The Orange County Register points out that "in the last 18 months, Michigan, Notre Dame and Tennessee have left adidas. Worth noting UCLA's adidas contract is up in 2017."

And with that in mind, Bruins fans undoubtedly wonder what move UCLA will make when it enters re-negotiations down the road.

UCLA's alternate uniforms have been hit and miss, as pointed out by the Daily Bruin. There was the all-white uniforms donned by the Bruins in 2011 against USC at the Coliseum. The Bruins not only lost the game 50-0 but the confidence among Bruins fans that felt Adidas was out of touch with UCLA's tradition.

The L.A. Nights changed the tenor among UCLA fans, and last year's L.A. Steel alternates were a huge hit among players and fans, who recognized alternate uniforms was a key recruiting ploy. 

No one knows for sure which way UCLA will lean come 2017. But it's worth wondering given the dynamic shift underscored by Michigan's recent move.

Photo Credit: Joe Robbins, Getty Images

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