The South Carolina Gamecocks athletic department is officially entering a new era. Following 10 years of being sponsored by Under Armour, the Gamecocks officially transitioned to Nike, effective July 1.
With the change, each South Carolina athletic team will get new uniforms from Nike. That includes major sports such as football, basketball, baseball, etc.
On Tuesday, the Gamecocks unveiled what their new football uniforms will look like, choosing to show off South Carolina's all-black uniforms. As South Carolina fans will notice, there isn't a ton of differences between the old and new:
The start 🤙 pic.twitter.com/X9vNByy95G
— South Carolina Football (@GamecockFB) July 1, 2026
But of course with Nike, there is plenty of room to make tweaks and adjustments down the line. In fact, Gamecocks athletic director Jeremiah Donati alluded to that fact upon the release.
"That’s one thing Nike does really well, is you get a chance to kind of really mix it up,” Donati said via Gamecock Central's Wes Mitchell. “But we didn’t feel like that was appropriate to completely change our look and our identity Day 1."
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It sounds like South Carolina's uniforms, at least for the 2026 season and beyond, won't look drastically different. But that doesn't rule out shifts in the future.
“You’ll see some subtle changes for this year," Donati continued via Mitchell. "But in future years, I think there’s going to be a willingness to maybe do something a little more extreme from uniform to uniform.”
As for South Carolina's new Nike deal, it sounds much more lucrative than what it had with Under Armour. Nike's deal, which will continue for the next 10 years, is valued around $70 million in product. Under Armours was far less than that.
South Carolina's deal with Nike is for 10 years, pays out $5M in cash and $70M in product.
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) July 1, 2026
The previous Under Armour contract was 10 years, $26M and $44.5M in product.
Previously, South Carolina was outfitted as an Under Armour school dating back to 2007, and the school's deal with them was set to expire June 30 and was not renewed. The Gamecocks were one of the last SEC schools to be paired with Under Armour, as Auburn switched to Nike in July 2025.
Fans looking to purchase new South Carolina Nike merchandise can do so by following this link.
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