This past month, the University of Maryland football team unveiled its new line of Under Armour uniforms and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) added two more schools to the conference.
The Terrapins debuted their new uniforms to a national audience during their season opener on Sept. 5 against the University of Miami. The Maryland-flag-laden uniforms created a huge buzz around the team, the university, and the uniforms themselves.
A few weeks later on Sept. 18, the ACC announced that its schools had unanimously voted to accept the University of Pittsburg and Syracuse University into the conference.
Using flashy uniforms and other forms of creative marketing to recruit players and prospective students to universities has become a recent trend in college football. Conference expansions are used also attract greater audiences and expand reach.
InsideMDSports.com writer Jakob Engelke believes that Maryland wanted the uniforms to garner national attention and create a buzz that was previously absent around the team.
“They clearly wanted to make a splash and get their name out there,” said Engelke. “[Maryland] accomplished that by debuting them to a national audience.”
Although the new uniforms were discussed extensively on ESPN and Twitter, not all of the responses were positive. But when it comes to the new uniforms, the true demographic that matters are the 16 and 17-year-olds and “no publicity is bad publicity,” Engelke added.
Maryland alum and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank shares that sentiment.
“What we care about is what 17 [and] 18-year old kids are thinking about where they want to play football in the next couple years,” Plank said on ESPN Radio after the victory over Miami. “I think that’s what Coach Edsall is most concerned about, and I think that with that demographic, we’re [doing] pretty good.”
Ryan Steffen, a senior accounting and information systems major, thinks that the effect of the uniforms can only go so far unless the team wins. “The losses downplay the uniforms. People want to win. People want history.”
Regarding the ACC accepting Pittsburg and Syracuse into the conference, Engelke commented on the changing landscape of the NCAA conferences. “Conferences used to be about tradition and location, who you were aligned best with,” said Engelke. “It’s clear now that it is about expanding their reach.”