KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Three stripes. One reason.

Money.

The University of Tennessee athletic department is switching from Nike back to Adidas in July 2026, according to Wednesday’s confirmation of something people in and around the industry have known for a while. After a dozen seasons with the Swoosh, the Vols are going back to the Stripes they wore from 1995-2015.

Details surrounding Wednesday’s unveiling of the 10-year deal are being kept quiet, but the school and the brand are shouting their excitement from rooftops in Knoxville to Herzogenaurach, Germany and all points in between. Reaction from Tennessee fans, meanwhile, is more of a mixed bag.

That mixed-bag fan reaction, at least for now, pales in comparison to the large bag of money Adidas placed on the other end of that scale.

College sports is an industry in flux, owing to the O’Bannon v. NCAA NIL revolution that overran the ramparts a decade ago and broke into Scrooge McDuck’s vault. The proletariat aren’t quite in command, but they’ve never had a larger slice of the sweet, billion-dollar pie that wouldn’t exist without them.

That pie isn’t an infinite thing, though, and zero-sum sugar is baked into it. Most of us have no problem with student-athletes being compensated for their work, but paying them requires sacrifices made in other areas. Operating budgets around the country have been radically reduced in order to share revenue with the working-class cleats and sneakers on the ground, and now that fans can more or less directly pay players, athletic departments are competing with their own employees for those funds. Coaches, administrators and support staffers still have to be recruited and retained. Facilities still need to be built and maintained. Bills still need to be paid.

Whether anyone involved with this needs our sympathy is a matter of opinion, but the economic reality is a matter of fact. It’s not quite a crisis, at least for schools like Tennessee, but it’s a problem that requires a complex set of solutions.

Enter Adidas, the Three-Striped German Knight in Shining Armor, willing to Reverse Berlin Airlift large bags of money — and perhaps more — to the Vols, the Lady Vols and those who coach and administer them.

This writer is just a bit too old to reliably understand exactly what these stylish big kids and young adults want to wear, and he doesn’t have children old enough to help him, either. But one need not a degree in Project Sports Runway to know most young people in this country prefer Nike. Many young people in this country, and especially in Europe, prefer The Stripes, but a clear majority of young American athletes seem to prefer The Swoosh. That’s exactly why most of the heavy hitters in the collegiate-sports industrial complex sign deals with Nike, and why many of them leave money on the table to do it.

Nike has these schools over a barrel, and everyone on all sides understands that reality.

As much as Nike would love to continue its association with Tennessee, it doesn’t need it. Nike doesn’t need any school. Even a top-10 brand like the Vols is a rounding error to Phil Knight and his family, both from a financial and clout perspective.

Nike doesn’t value Tennessee. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. We know this because Nike’s current contract with Tennessee allows it to counter and match any offer from any brand. Nike didn’t table an offer. It knew everything Adidas offered Tennessee, and it never put pen to paper on a counter offer. Maybe it tried. Maybe it didn’t. But any and every effort stopped short of a formal counter. Nike — and its iconic, Jordan Brand division — were willing to let the Vols walk. So the Vols walked.

Multiple sources for months have insisted to yours truly that Adidas is committed to treating Tennessee the way Nike treats Oregon, or the way Under Armor treats Notre Dame. Exact figures remain under lock and key, and we’ll continue working on this side to unlock them, but we’ve been told to expect stiff resistance on that front. In Tennessee’s mind, this deal represents two magic words — competitive advantage. In this writer’s experience, any time you hear “competitive advantage” cited as the reason for secrecy, you better bring a gun to that fight.

The gist is simple enough, though: Adidas has offered Tennessee perhaps three to four times more direct money to the athletic department, and a guarantee of flagship status to the Vols and their athletes. Direct NIL payments for athletes in a groundbreaking program. Signature shoes. National and regional marketing campaigns. Fresh gear for players, coaches and fans rolling off the assembly line year-round.

Nike never publicly or privately disrespected Tennessee, as far this writer could tell. But the Vols were never Nike’s top priority, and that was never going to change. It wasn’t Oregon. It wasn’t Texas. It wasn’t Ohio State or Michigan. It wasn’t, sorry to say, Alabama or Georgia or Florida, at least in terms of football priorities.

Tennessee could have remained somewhere high in the second-tier of Nike’s priorities, or it could jump to the top of the list for Adidas, and it chose Door No. 2. There are plenty of reputable programs, and even some power players, in the Adidas camp. Texas A&M lives the striped life, as do Miami, Washington, Louisville, Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana, Texas Tech, Mississippi State, NC State, Georgia Tech, Arizona State and others. Don’t dismiss St. John’s, either, now that Slick Rick Pitino is running that basketball program.

Is that a risk? Absolutely, it’s a risk. Of course, it’s a risk. Nearly every decision that comes across the desk of Tennessee athletic director Danny White is a risky one, at least to some degree, and this is one of the biggest — and therefore riskiest — decisions he’ll ever make throughout his tenure in Knoxville. Most kids in this country seem to prefer Nike, and Nike Basketball dominates the market and the culture of that sport at a scale difficult to describe. Imagine a thoroughbred sired by Wal-Mart with a dam of Amazon. That’s what Nike and Jordan are in the basketball world. Leaving Nike Basketball is a gargantuan risk.

Let’s not pretend Adidas is a company without clout in the sports world, though. Ever heard of Lionel Messi? Or Patrick Mahomes? Or David Beckham? Or James Harden? Or Damian Lillard? Or Anthony Edwards? If you’re reading this, you darn sure know Candace Parker. Some of the world’s biggest celebrities are official partners or known fans of adidas apparel.

In the here-and-now sense, some of the nation’s biggest high school recruits have already signed NIL deals with Adidas, as well. Five-star wide receiver prospect Tristen Keys — an LSU commit still being aggressively pursued by Tennessee and others — recently signed a lucrative deal with adidas.

You can’t go wrong with a Nike or Jordan affiliation in the sports world. That was true yesterday, it’s true today and it’ll be true tomorrow. Nike doesn’t run everything, though, and leaving the Swoosh doesn’t have to be a disastrous decision.

Sometimes, at the end of the day, you just want to be around people who really, really want you around them, and you’ll take risks to make that your reality. We’ve all made major life decisions for that exact reason. That’s why this journalist just joined WBIR, and it’s why Tennessee just signed with Adidas. You don’t have to agree with the decision to understand and respect the reason it was made.