New Maryland jerseys and ACC expansion highlight the business of college sports

In the past month the University of Maryland football team unveiled its new line of Under Armour uniforms and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) expanded with the addition of two more schools.

            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 and interest around the team, the university and the manufacturer of the uniforms themselves, Under Armour.

            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.

            The use of flashy uniforms and other forms of creative marketing to recruit players and prospective students to attend universities has become a recent trend in college football as well as conference expansion to grow audiences and expand reach. 

            InsideMDSports.com writer Jakob Engelke believes that Maryland wanted the uniforms to garner national attention and create a buzz around the team that was previously absent.

            "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."

            The talk of the uniforms was widespread and discussed extensively on ESPN and Twitter, but not all of the response was positive.

            However Engelke said "no publicity is bad publicity" when it comes to the new uniforms and that the true demographic that matters are the 16- and-17-year-olds who coaches are trying to recruit.

            "Anyone besides 16- [and] 17-year-olds in high school don't really matter," said Engelke.  "[Maryland] wanted to get more recruits with the uniform and I think they accomplished that."

            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."

            Engelke and senior accounting and information systems major Ryan Steffen agree that the effect of the uniforms can only go so far unless the team wins.

            "The first game, yeah, I wanted to watch the game," said Steffen.  "The losses downplay the uniforms."

            "Recruits want to win, the jerseys can only do so much.  Even though Ohio State can get all those allegations they still will have a team.  People want to win.  People want history," said Steffen.

            In terms of the ACC accepting Pittsburg and Syracuse into their conference, Engelke believes the landscape of the NCAA conferences is changing.

            "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."

            Engelke continued saying that the T.V. market is huge and conference expansion clearly comes down to money, football and basketball.