Lakeland Union High School Board members Monday, Dec. 19th balked at language requirements of a proposed agreement with Kollege Town Sports that would designate the Minocqua 9th-12th grade school as an Under Armour school.
The Madison-based company had offered merchandize and cash incentives to sign with it to supply the school’s athletic teams and co-curricular organizations with Under Armour uniforms and apparel. The board directed Athletic/Activities Director Don Scharbarth to meet again with the company representative to either remove the requirements of the written agreement, or submit a letter echoing Scharbarth’s assertions that the company would not hold LUHS to those terms.
“It’s in here,” Scharbarth said of the requirements, “but they won’t hold us to it. This (agreement) is going to be real loose. If the kids want to buy Nike football cleats, they can buy Nike football cleats, but we have to offer Under Armour.”
But that wasn’t sufficient for some board members even with a recommendation of approval from their finance committee.
Board members Shari Nimsgern, Gary Smith, Barb Peck and board president Tom Gabert all questioned the stipulations, such as the ones that all school teams “must wear Under Armour uniforms” and “must purchase all player merchandise with Kollege Town Sports.” “I look under program requirement and I see ‘musts’,” said Gabert. The company representative had already made changes since the Finance meeting, Scharbarth said. The district would now be able to cancel the agreement after one year, two years and three years.
The representative also deleted a minimum dollar minimum in sales of apparel and uniforms in order to receive “retail dollars” to be used in Kollege Town’s merchandise catalog. The company has also offered a five percent cash rebate to the district on all sales. The matter will be brought up at the board’s January meeting, and if approved, should still allow enough time to outfit the spring sports teams with Under Armour uniforms, Scharbarth said.
