Vols insider eases a major concern that fans have about Tennessee potentially switching from Nike to Adidas

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Zach Ragan | Last updated May 16, 2025 12:12 PM ET

One of the big topics in East Tennessee this week is the Tennessee Vols' expiring deal with Nike.

Tennessee's deal with Nike is set to expire in 2026. The program is currently in an open negotiating window, and Adidas is expected to present a lucrative offer at some point in the near future.

"It (UT's deal with Nike) expires in June of 2026 and Nike has been in an exclusive negotiation window (with UT) for several months," explained VolQuest's Brent Hubbs during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone on Friday. "That window closed on March 31. When that window closed, Tennessee is in a situation -- they're in a free market, basically. They can go talk to anybody and listen to any pitch that anybody has. And Adidas is making a pitch, and they're making an aggressive pitch. They've had some conversations [with Tennessee]. I don't know that there's anything formal on paper yet in terms of an offer, but Adidas is very aggressive, and has been very aggressive, and clearly likes and wants Tennessee. And Tennessee is listening."

"If Adidas does offer, which we expect to happen, once that offer is formally placed at Tennessee, then Nike has 15 days to counter before Tennessee can do anything," added Hubbs. "So I don't think we're looking at a decision next week or anything like that. But I do think you'll see a decision made in that apparel front in June sometime, probably. I would say the first of July at the latest. They like to do them a year ahead, because you got to start to order and start the design process."

If the Vols switch from Nike to Adidas, it would mostly be because it's a much more lucrative deal for Tennessee -- which is important in the current NIL era.

Nike is unsurprisingly the more popular choice among Vols fans. One reason why that's the case is because when Tennessee previously had a deal with Adidas (prior to the 2015 season), the uniforms weren't exactly considered attractive.

Some of y’all have forgotten the mismatched, yellow, not Vols orange slop adidas put the Vols in and it shows. Never go back to that crap. https://t.co/6VvpfX5QvR pic.twitter.com/yN6lcOxn8O
— Chad Fields (Vols Uniform Boy) (@CfieldsVFL) May 13, 2025

Hubbs, however, pointed out on Friday that when Tennessee was previously under contract with Adidas, before the 2015 season, Adidas had control over uniform design. According to Hubbs, that's no longer the case. Tennessee now designs their own uniforms and sends the mock designs to the apparel company.

"It is important to note that 10 years ago, when Tennessee was with Adidas the last time, Adidas had control over uniform design," said Hubbs. "That's not the case now. Tennessee designs their uniform and sends the mocks to Adidas or to Nike or whoever and says this is the direction we want to go. So the color matches better. They have much more control in what it looks like. So it's not just that something gets thrown at you by a shoe company and they say, hey you got to wear those uniforms. That's not the case here, as Tennessee, with whoever they're with, will have pretty much full uniform control on the design."

We'll see how these negotiations play out over the next few weeks, but if Tennessee does end up making the switch to Adidas, fans shouldn't worry that UT's uniforms will suddenly look horrendous.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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