Wharton is latest to ink Reebok deal
The Wharton football team has agreed upon a shoe and outfitting deal with Reebok, becoming the
third Hillsborough County high school to sign with the athletic apparel company, Reebok's director of team sports for the state of Florida Rich Keast said Tuesday.
Hillsborough and Bloomingdale have already reached aggreements with Reebok, which will provide the team with practice shirts and shorts and outfit sideline staff in exchance for a team purchase of their NFL Epuipment shoe line at a discounted price, Keast said. The schools also receive discounts on Reebok uniforms, which would be of the same quality as NFL 
uniforms, complete with form-fitting fabric with moisture-wicking technology for sweat.
At least three other bay area football teams could follow, Keast said.
"We've made a lot of local on-site meetings," Keast said. "We're receiving a lot of interest."
Reebok's foray into high school sports is a new one. Reebok is the official supplier of the NFL and is now focused on spreading its brand into the high school football ranks.
Armwood signed an exclusive Nike agreement, one of just five in the state of Florida.
-- EDUARDO A. ENCINA
Related content:
Bulls joining Reebok fray (Blog post, 3/27/08)
Hillsborough finalizes deal with Reebok (Blog post, 3/19/08)
Nike woos Armwood (3/9/08)
The St. Petersburg Times High School Sports blog is written and compiled by the Times preps sports staff from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. We invite your participation in the comments area.
When Boomingdale was made a "Rebok Team" this scam became obvious. I don't know what the hook is, but when one of the teams has never had a winning record you know there is something fishy.
Posted by: | May 09, 2008 at 08:44 AM
Let's face it, there all second fiddle to the Armwood Nike deal. These other schools are jealous of the success and are trying to accomodate their programs. "Oh no, where gonna lose our kids to them if we don't find somebody to sponsor us right away!"
Posted by: . | May 09, 2008 at 09:49 AM
Wharton has been outfitted with Reebok since last season, so c'mon.
Posted by: | May 09, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Does this mean they get to wear Reebok pumps?
Posted by: Austin Powers | May 09, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Wharton Football has been REEBOK for 3 Seasons now. This is very old news!!!!!
Posted by: Wharton | May 09, 2008 at 09:53 PM
3rd team to do it? Wharton has has reebok for the past TWO years going on three.
Posted by: 3rd team? | May 11, 2008 at 09:13 AM
Armwood came AFTER wharton with shoe deals buddy. wharton has had it for 3 years
Posted by: to the armwood fan | May 11, 2008 at 09:15 AM