Ties between Nike, Inc. and the University of Oregon are ongoing and have existed for decades. The relationship is so close that the institution is sometimes referred to as the "University of Nike". [1] [2]
Nike, Inc. was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports. The firm was co-founded by Bill Bowerman and Phillip Knight. Bowerman coached the famed "Men of Oregon" track program and Knight was coached by Bowerman in the 1950s. [3] Knight graduated from UO in 1959 with a business degree. [4]
As I’ve said many times, my business life was born on Hayward Field. [5]
— Phil Knight, (2018)
Steve Prefontaine, a UO distance runner, was believed to be the first athlete signed by Nike. He signed a $5000 contract in 1974. [6]
Knight may have made his first contribution to UO in the late-1980s. [7] By the year 2000 Knight contributed $50 million to the university. [8] As of 2023, Knight has contributed in excess of $1 billion towards the University of Oregon. [9] Knight has contributed significant personal funds towards building and maintaining the university's athletic apparatus. [2] Knight has donated completed buildings to the university's athletic program. Many of these buildings are regarded as extravagant or opulent. Nike designers often play a role in designing interior spaces. [10]
Knight allegedly contributed $40,000 towards UO president Dave Frohnmayer's annual salary in the 1990s. [11]
Bowerman contributed funds to the Bowerman Family Building, which used to be adjacent to Hayward Field. The facility was subsequently demolished. [12]
The school's "O" logo was designed by Nike in 1998 and sports facility projects on campus typically involve both Knight and Nike. [13] [14] [1] The outside of the logo represents Autzen Stadium and the inside represents Hayward Field. These stadiums house the football and track programs respectively.
Nike designs the University of Oregon football program's team attire. [15] New unique combinations are issued before every game day. [16] [10]
More recently, the corporation donated $13.5 million towards the renovation and expansion of Hayward Field. [17]
In recent years the university has embraced its ties to Nike. [2]
As of 2023, 16.5% of UO's gross square footage (based on building inventory) is purpose-built for the university's NCAA sports program. [18] UO's NCAA program currently occupies 1,492,802 gross square feet of building space. Many of these facilities are only accessible to student athletes.
UO adopted The Oregon Experiment's campus planning framework in the 1970s, which was developed by UC Berkeley architecture professor Christopher Alexander. In the proceeding decades UO has moved further away from this framework. UO's athletic facilities have embraced different design ideals and do not involve university input. It can be said that the athletic department reject's The Oregon Experiment. [19]
Nike, Inc.'s ties are discussed at length in the book University of Nike by Joshua Hunt. Hunt alleges that this relationship became more pronounced due to state higher education disinvestment. [1]
Knight has advocated for the university's sports programs, especially football. Knight's building projects often do not involve university oversight or input. [20] Knight has also advocated for privatising the university and contributed to a Political Action Committee that advanced his wishes. [21] In the early 2010s, with the backing of Knight, the university attempted to breakaway from state higher-ed oversight and obtain $800 million up front from the state legislature. [22]
In the early 2000s Knight controversially withdrew a significant contribution towards renovating the university's football stadium. This was due to the university signing the Workers Rights Consortium. [8] Knight subsequently made amends and made his contribution. [23] However, he went two decades without making a signifiant contribution to academics. [24] [25]
But for me personally, there will be no further donations of any kind to the University of Oregon. At this time, this is not a situation that can be resolved. The bonds of trust, which allowed me to give at a high level, have been shredded. [8]
— Phil Knight, (2000)
In 2005, Knight allegedly attempted to strong-arm the university's then president, Dave Frohnmayer, into firing both the athletic director and track and field coach. According to reports, Knight threatened to withhold funds towards the construction of a new basketball arena. By 2007 both were gone. Knight allegedly wanted to install his personal friend Pat Kilkenny as the new athletic director. At the time Kilkenny did not have experience managing a multimillion-dollar a year athletic program. Ultimately, Kilkenny became the new athletic director. [11]
The University of Oregon is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the university also has two Portland locations, and manages a marine station, called the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, in Charleston; and an observatory, called Pine Mountain Observatory, in Central Oregon.
Philip Hampson Knight is an American billionaire business magnate who is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., a global sports equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chairman and CEO. As of December 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $45.0 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was part of the track and field club under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon with whom he would later co-found Nike.
David B. "Dave" Frohnmayer was an American attorney, politician, and academic administrator from Oregon. He was the 15th president of the University of Oregon, serving from 1994 to 2009. His tenure as president was the second-longest after John Wesley Johnson. He was the first native Oregonian to run the University of Oregon. Frohnmayer previously served as Oregon Attorney General from 1981 to 1991, and subsequently served as dean at the University of Oregon School of Law before serving as president of the university. He served in an "of counsel" attorney role with the Oregon law firm, Harrang Long Gary Rudnick P.C.
Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine was an American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and was preparing for the 1976 Olympics with the Oregon Track Club at the time of his death in 1975. Prefontaine's career, alongside those of Jim Ryun, Frank Shorter, and Bill Rodgers, generated considerable media coverage, which helped inspire the 1970s "running boom." He died at age 24 in an automobile crash near his residence in Eugene, Oregon. One of the premier track meets in the world, the Prefontaine Classic, is held annually in Eugene in his honor. Prefontaine's celebrity and charisma later resulted in two 1990s feature films about his short life.
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon Medical Department and later became the University of Oregon Medical School. In 1974, the campus became an independent, self-governed institution called the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, combining state dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public health programs into a single center. It was renamed Oregon Health Sciences University in 1981 and took its current name in 2001, as part of a merger with the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI), in Hillsboro. The university has several partnership programs including a joint PharmD Pharmacy program with Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the Northwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus home of the varsity football team from 1919 through 1966. Track and field competitions at the stadium are organized by the not-for-profit organization TrackTown USA.
William Jay Bowerman was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 22 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers.
Kenneth Clark Moore was an American Olympic road running athlete and journalist. He ran the marathon at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth at the latter.
The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. With eighteen varsity teams, Oregon is best known for its American football team and track and field program, which has helped Eugene gain a reputation as "Track Town, USA". Oregon's main rivalries are with the Oregon State Beavers and the Washington Huskies.
The Prefontaine Classic is a track and field meet held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Organized by the Oregon Track Club, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, and is now part of the Diamond League. The meet is one of the few international competitions to host the imperial distances of the Mile run and 2 Mile run.
Knight Library is the main facility of the University of Oregon's (UO) library system. It is located on the university's campus in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The library design is emblematic of the architecture of the university's older buildings, and it serves as a hub of student activity. As of 2008 it has a collection of more than 3 million volumes. The library also holds collections of primary sources such as photographs and manuscripts on various topics at the Special Collections & University Archives. It is also a depository for the Federal Depository Library Program. The library was previously known as the Main Library and it was renamed the Knight Library in 1988, in honor of the family of Phil Knight.
William Louis "Colonel Bill" Hayward was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon for 44 years, and a track coach for six United States Olympic teams, from 1908 through 1932.
The Matthew Knight Arena (MKA) is a 12,364-seat, multi-purpose arena in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It is home of the University of Oregon Ducks basketball teams, replacing McArthur Court. It is located on the east side of campus at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Villard Street, a gateway to campus as people arrive from I-5. The arena was originally intended to be ready for the start of the 2010–11 basketball season, but instead opened for the men's basketball game against the USC Trojans on January 13, 2011. It is named for chief donor Phil Knight's son, Matthew Knight, who died aged 34 in a scuba diving accident. The arena cost $227 million and was designed as collaboration between TVA Architects of Portland and Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City, Missouri. Hoffman Construction Company of Portland was the general contractor.
Nike, Inc. is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$46 billion in its fiscal year 2022.
The Oregon Track Club (OTC) is an American running organization based in Eugene, Oregon.
The Oregon Ducks track and field program is the intercollegiate track and field team for the University of Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference. The team participates in indoor and outdoor track and field as well as cross country. Known as the Ducks, Oregon's first track and field team was fielded in 1895. The team holds its home meets at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Jerry Schumacher is the current head coach and since the program's inception in 1895, there have only been eight permanent head coaches. The Ducks claim 32 NCAA National Championships among the three disciplines.
Michael Harry Schill is an American legal scholar and academic administrator currently serving as the 17th president of Northwestern University since September 2022.
William H. Moos is an American former college athletics administrator and college football player. He served as the athletic director at the University of Montana from 1990 to 1995, the University of Oregon from 1995 to 2007, Washington State University from 2010 to 2018, and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2017 to 2021. Moos played college football at Washington State from 1969 to 1972.
Bill Bowerman is an outdoor 2000 sculpture of the American track and field coach of the same name by Diana Lee Jackson, installed outside the Bowerman Family Building, in the corner of Hayward Field, on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.