The NFL expanded its partnership with sports apparel brand New Era to the NFL scouting combine; New Era will outfit prospects beginning in 2025.
The league announced a multiyear agreement with New Era in an embargoed news release Wednesday. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
The NFL became an equity investor in New Era in 2022, along with the NBA and MLB. The NHL announced a multiyear global licensing deal with the company on July 9, but it did not include any equity, according to an NHL spokesperson.
New Era is providing performance headwear and apparel for combine invitees who are hoping to hear their name called at the 2025 NFL Draft, which will be held in Green Bay, Wisc. The gear includes outerwear, base layers, compressions, pants, shorts, caps, headbands and socks, among other apparel. New Era will hold retail rights to some of the combine’s products as part of the partnership.
Since its inception in 1920, New Era has been best known as a hat company and for having its logo on MLB caps, but it offers other apparel for purchase on its website, including shirts, hoodies, shorts, backpacks and smaller accessories like pins.
New Era was the NFL scouting combine sponsor from 2020 through 2022 before athletic sportswear company NoBull, owned by Mike Repole, took over the partnership from August 2022 to 2024. In December 2022, the 32 NFL owners put $160 million ($5 million each) into the league’s venture capital fund, 32 Equity; some of that money was invested in NoBull, according to The Athletic.
NoBull confirmed that its NFL partnership expires at the end of the year. “As a training brand, NoBull was proud to partner with the NFL to create an onsite experience that allowed the players to prepare for the one of the biggest moments of their lives,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Maryland-based Under Armour (NYSE: UA) got the NFL scouting combine outfit sponsorship in 2015 and saw that deal end after the 2019 event.
New Era is privately held, and Reuters reported in September the company was preparing for an IPO at a $4 billion to $5 billion valuation. The combine begins on Feb. 24, 2025, at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.
(This article has been updated with a statement from NoBull.)
