Steph Curry will be the subject of a new documentary premiering Wednesday on MSNBC, and rather than exploring his greatness in basketball it will instead examine the many businesses that operate with him at the center.
“Curry Inc: The Business of Stephen Curry” will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Thirty Ink, the parent company behind an ambitious portfolio of businesses, including a production company, creative and strategy studio and limited-edition whiskey distiller. And then, of course, there’s the matter of Curry Brand, the Under Armour sub-brand that’s grown out of a long line of signature sneakers and is akin to Jordan Brand under Nike.
Ahead of the “Curry Inc” premiere, Footwear News is offering a refresher on Curry’s Under Armour deal, which has now been running for a dozen years and has the potential to net him $1 billion over the course of his lifetime. Learn everything you need to know about the contract below.
Steph Curry at his 8th annual Curry Camp for hand-selected youth basketball players.
Courtesy of Under Armour
Why Steph Curry Chose Under Armour Over Nike
Entering the 2013 offseason and coming off of his first postseason appearance, Curry had already been signed to Nike and was up for a new endorsement deal. He took pitches from both Nike and Under Armour, as well as considering Adidas, but ultimately Nike could have made the decision for him. The company had matching rights for Curry, meaning it could match any offer from a competitor and retain Curry regardless of what he wanted himself.
Nike didn’t take the hard approach to lock Curry down, and it also famously failed in its softer approach through a pitch meeting that was by all reports a disaster. One Nike official pronounced Stephen as “Steph-On” and Kevin Durant’s name appeared in a PowerPoint slide, suggesting Nike reused the same materials and forgot to swap in Curry’s name, according to an ESPN story from 2016.
There was nothing to suggest Nike would make Curry a signature athlete with his own sneaker, as he hadn’t yet taken the final leap to superstardom. The company wouldn’t even give him a camp to teach young basketball players, a high priority for Curry after how much attending Chris Paul’s own camps had meant to him during his childhood.
Under Armour had already held its own pitch meeting with Curry prior to Nike, and its efforts to woo him went back even further and more covertly through teammate Kent Bazemore, who was then an undrafted rookie with an outsized amount of free product given to him by the company. He served as a billboard for the company in the locker room and repeatedly urged Curry to sign with Under Armour.
As Curry himself tells it in storybook fashion, the operative moment involved his daughter Riley when she was just a 1-year-old and presented with a shoe: each from Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. The first two she threw over her shoulder but the Under Armour shoe she walked with and handed over to her father. “So I knew right then,” he told ESPN.
Steph Curry’s Initial Under Armour Contract
Steph Curry in the Curry 11, which launched in 2023.
Curry’s initial deal with Under Armour was valued at somewhere under $4 million per year, roughly $1.5 million higher than what Nike had offered. His first signature sneaker, the Under Armour Curry 1, arrived two years after joining the company and during the season in which he won his first MVP award and NBA Finals.
After that monumental season, Curry and Under Armour signed a much more lucrative extension scheduled to run until 2024. Precise terms weren’t disclosed upon the announcement, but it was confirmed that he’d receive an ownership stake in the company. Later, reports indicated that the deal was worth $215 million over the course of nine years.
The Curry 1’s debut helped drive Under Armour to a then-record $153 million in footwear over the course of three months alone, according to an ESPN story on the first contract extension. Later in 2015, Under Armour was named Brand of the Year at the FN Achievement Awards.
By 2023, TD Cowen estimated Curry Brand was bringing in $250 million in annual sales for Under Armour.
Launch of Curry Brand and Latest Contract Extension
Steph Curry and Curry Brand signature athlete Aaron Fox.
Courtesy of Under Armour
Following the release of seven signature sneakers, Under Armour launched Curry Brand as its own sub-brand in 2020. The Curry 8 became the first sneaker to release under the new entity, which has grown to include both performance and lifestyle sneakers as well as apparel and accessories. It’s even branched out to include shoes for golf and running, and in 2024 Aaron Fox became the first athlete not named Steph Curry to receive a signature sneaker from Curry Brand, the Curry Fox 1, much like Carmelo Anthony did for Jordan Brand 20 years earlier.
Curry and Under Armour announced their latest extension in 2023, and it has the potential to become a lifetime deal if certain parameters are met. Once again, financial details weren’t disclosed, but Under Armour did report in a public SEC filing that it had given $75 million in shares to Curry that year as part of his compensation, according to The Athletic.
Under Armour founder Kevin Plank told ESPN performance-based revenue targets would trigger clauses to continually extend the partnership well after Curry’s career is over and potentially for his entire life. The deal also made Steph the president of Curry Brand while expanding its resources, and it’s believed that he could end up receiving more money from Under Armour than his total career NBA earnings, which are expected to surpass $500 million.
