Deion Sanders is once again aligned with Nike.
“We welcome Deion Sanders back to the Nike family,” the athletic giant said in a statement sent to FN.
Nike’s statement confirmed the news that Sanders, an NFL and MLB icon who is now referred to as “Coach Prime” in the college football ranks, shared on social media.
“‘We Coming’ @nike #CoachPrime,” Sanders stated via Instagram in a post created by his son, Deion Sanders Jr. The social media post included a series of images of Sanders with his iconic Nike signature shoe, the Air Diamond Turf.
Although Sanders wore Nike during his NFL and MLB days, he has long been aligned with rival Under Armour. In an interview with the Complex program “Sneaker Shopping” in 2017, Sanders addressed his contentious relationship with Nike, offering a stern “never” when asked if he’d work with the brand again, and confirming he had been an Under Armour ambassador “for almost 15 years.”
However, Sanders had no choice but to reunite with Nike after accepting the head coach job at the University of Colorado — a Nike-backed school — in December 2022. In January 2023, a USA Today report stated Nike’s sponsorship deal with Colorado would require Sanders to “‘exclusively’ wear Nike branded products ‘while he is acting in his official capacity as head football coach.'”
Sanders signed a five-year, $29.5 million deal in December 2020 to become the head coach at Colorado.
