Under Armour’s not talking but Bryce Harper is.
The Philadelphia Phillies right fielder and first baseman posted on TikTok over the weekend that he was a free agent — at least when it comes to his apparel and footwear.
For 15 years, the athlete has been sponsored by Under Armour and had his own line of cleats and performance apparel with the Baltimore-based company. The cleats were still available on the Under Armour site on Saturday.
The news came after Harper was seen wearing Travis Scott Air Jordan Nike shoes while taking batting practice at an indoor facility. In response to a comment on TikTok about his shoes, he wrote that he was a “free agent in the apparel/footwear category right now buddy.”
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The comment could also be a negotiating tactic. Reports say he is in talks with Under Armour to renew his contract.
A spokesperson for Under Armour said “as a matter of policy, we do not comment on athlete contracts or active negotiations.”
Harper signed with Under Armour in 2011 when he was age 17 and inked a 10-year extension in 2016. According to Sports Illustrated, it was the largest endorsement deal for a baseball player at that time.
If Harper does make a move away from Under Armour, he would be the second high-profile athlete to cut ties with the sports firm. In mid-November, the company said it was parting ways with Stephen Curry after a decade. The company and the basketball star had built a separate business called the Curry Brand, which will also no longer be associated with Under Armour. The final shoe, the Curry 13, will be released in February.
Although Under Armour has been battling a number of financial challenges of late — it posted a second-quarter net loss of $18.8 million on revenue of $1.33 billion — things were looking up last week when Canadian investor Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and its affiliates, already a large shareholder, said it had acquired an additional 42 million shares of the company’s stock, bringing its stake up to 22 percent.
