Under Armour, MLB partnership includes bringing Connected Fitness platform to players
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Under Armour announced Monday it will provide exclusive Connected Fitness offerings to Major League Baseball teams, which will provide athletes with state-of-the-art technology designed to inform and strengthen player performance.
The Under Armour Connected Fitness platform powers a digital health and fitness community through a suite of applications: UA Record, MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal.
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The NBA in June had announced the launch of its first fitness app — the NBA FIT app in partnership with Under Armour powered by UA Record.
But for Under Armour and MLB, the partnership is part of a 10-year agreement that names the brand as the official uniform provider for the league beginning in 2020. It’s the first professional league uniform deal that Under Armour has landed.
The partnership will have Under Armour provide all on-field apparel and uniform components for players. Fanatics will have the consumer product licensing rights to manage the manufacturing and distribution of Under Armour and Fanatics fan merchandise, some of which is expected to be available before the 2020 season.
“Under Armour is proud of our long-standing relationship with MLB and we look forward to this exciting next chapter. This is a watershed moment for the Under Armour brand as this partnership with MLB and Fanatics furthers our collective dedication to bringing passion, energy and innovation to the game of baseball,” Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank said in a statement. “Under Armour’s goal is to engage and excite MLB’s incredibly diverse fan-base across America and around the world, and grow the game for the next generation of great athletes.”
Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin said in a statement that the league was “innovative and tech-savvy” to grow the game through a “new business model better suited to today’s digital economy.” Under Armour and Fanatics take over for Nike and Majestic.
“We are excited to build on our partnership with Under Armour, a powerful global brand that continues to grow exponentially, and Fanatics, an industry leader in sports licensing,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Under Armour’s marketing ability and brand status are a perfect fit to showcase our players and provide an even stronger connection between our game and its young fans and players. We appreciate Majestic’s many contributions to our clubs, players and fans throughout our partnership.”
Under Armour began its relationship with MLB in 2000 as an official baselayer supplier. The brand took the field with its first baseball cleat collection in 2006 and became the official performance footwear partner of MLB in 2011.
