U of A to pay $2.4M to settle lawsuit over athletics apparel contract

The settlement was agreed to by the university and Baltimore-based plaintiff Leona Marketing Group after months of discussions, a UA lawyer told the Arizona Board of Regents. ABOR, the governing body overseeing the state’s public universities including UA, approved the settlement payment at a meeting Thursday.

UA’s contract with Leona was based on a footwear, apparel and equipment agreement, UA’s general counsel Cliff Iler said at Thursday’s ABOR meeting.

He said UA “ultimately” entered into a contract with athletic apparel giant Nike.

Leona’s website says it has industry experts who guide athletic departments in finding the best deals for multimedia rights and apparel rights.

In the lawsuit, Leona claimed it was entitled to a success fee based on the contract; the success fee in the settlement is $2.1 million and the rest of the amount is expenses and attorney fees. A success fee is something Leona, in this case, would earn if it achieved a particular result, rather than being paid a flat fee or hourly rate by UA for its work.

The UA will pay the entire amount of the settlement, according to ABOR documents, which state: “Self-insurance is not provided through state risk management in this matter because all the claims asserted by Plaintiff are contract claims.”

Leona filed the civil lawsuit in April 2026 in Maricopa County Superior Court over its contract with the UA, which started in January 2024. Leona alleged “breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment.”

The UA declined to respond Thursday to the Arizona Daily Star’s questions about the settlement and underlying contract issues.

Arizona created a nonprofit sponsorship arm known as Arizona Sports Enterprises after Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois was hired in February 2024. All sponsorship agreements are now routed through ASE and are not subject to public records requests.

Iler did not provide any additional context and the regents voted to approve the settlement without public comment. The issue had been scheduled to be discussed during a private ABOR executive session Thursday morning.

The lawsuit was currently in the pre-trial discovery phase, where both sides exchange facts, evidence and witness information, but Leona has filed an early motion for summary judgement, ABOR documents said.