For over 12 years, Nike (NKE) has partnered and collaborated with the NFL as the exclusive provider of uniforms and apparel for all 32 teams in the league. Earlier this week the sportswear giant announced they will be extending their contract with the NFL through 2038.

On this week’s episode of Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano breaks down the significance of this NFL partnership and why it’s a win for Nike, especially with the new CEO Elliott Hill — who entered the role in October 2024 — at the helm of this deal.

“[Hill] has only been on the job for a few months now, but he specifically said he wanted athletes to be at the center of everything they do,” Pompliano says. “That includes sports and sports leagues like the NFL. So this is a great sign for Nike.”

Pompliano is also joined by combat sports journalist and host of The Ariel Helwani Show, Ariel Helwani, to discuss the world of MMA (mixed martial arts), especially the growth of UFC. Helwani attributes a lot of it to the UFC's media rights deal with ESPN that began in 2019. UFC is currently owned by TKO Group Holdings (TKO), with Dana White continuing to lead the combat sports promoter as CEO and president.

“When ESPN is in business with an entity, they start to cover them and promote them a lot more. So they'll be on the ticker, they'll be on dot com, all that stuff, and more,” Helwani says. “When they really want to put the muscle and the machine behind it, it changes in a massive way.”

Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news — the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals — so you and your portfolio will win BIG.

Questions? Fan mail? Email us at [email protected].

Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff.