Adidas

[ShortCreek]

It seems Adidas continues to lose its college programs to other companies. UCLA is set to announce a new partnership with Under Armour this morning. Adidas has also recently lost Notre Dame (UA), Tennessee (Nike), and will be losing Wisconsin (UA) on June 30th. I can't decide whether this will help the Cardinal program rise in importance and priority with Adidas or if by the conclusion of our contract Adidas will be a dinasour of a shoe company with young kids. It seems UA might be the new "cool" as long as Steph Curry is hot, at least in basketball. I hope we don't regret our Adidas contract, what does it run through year wise?

 

[Steelers2012]

Jeff Greer‏@jeffgreer_cj 37m37 minutes ago


Louisville's last contract extension with adidas is worth $39 million and runs through 2017-18 with 2018-19 option.

 

[REDFISTFURY3]

Louisville should have went to Nike years ago . it's too late to be a player with them now . UCLA has realized Addidas just ain't gonna cut with the elite of elite of recruits and agents,aau etc.

 

[ShortCreek]

It's never too late to be a player with Nike or Under Armour especially if our program can stay white hot for two more years!

 

[zipp]

These deals are never what they appear to be due to the math used. $280 million in the UCLA deal is the sum over 15 years. The longer the contract runs, the more money you're promised. But a shorter contract can be even more lucrative on an ANNUAL basis.

In the UCLA fine print, they're receiving $11 million over the first year, an amount that will escalate annually. U of L's current adidas contract looks like it's somewhere between $8 and $9 million in the final year. But that contract was negotiated two years ago. And in the college arms race, these contracts are increasing to a significant degree every year they're renewed. It's one reason I was glad to see Jurich only agree to a five-year deal with adidas. He'll be back at the bargaining table in another couple years.

I like the adidas relationship. It's obviously lucrative and will be even more so when renewal rolls around. And if everyone is leaving adidas, that makes U of L pretty special in the aftermath. Won't bother me at all if we're the LAST adidas school and carrying around our money in a Brinks truck...

 

[shadow force]

Right now Adidas was willing to cover the other sports at UofL as well, right? That was an important factor I'm sure. But when this latest Adidas contract is up I really hope Jurich checks out what Nike or UA is willing to offer. Sure it might be lucrative for UofL if they become basically one of or the only big fish still with Adidas, BUT you also don't want to be the last one to bail out on a sinking ship if you don't have to.

 

[zipp]

The only nonfinancial issue I've ever heard with the apparel contracts is the Nike thing in basketball. But as long as Pitino's here, that's not gonna matter much. We're not interested in "shoe kids". And if a Nike/AAU phenom won't give us a second look, it doesn't matter. That kid's not L1C4 material anyway.

For the rest of the sports and athletes, I've never heard that the logo matters. I also liked the Zombie Bird helmets, apparently as much as the kids did...

 

[zipp]

As an aside and for anyone questioning the financial health of these companies... Here is a one-year chart of the stock prices for adidas (blue), Nike (green), and Under Armour (red). Sorry for the small print, but the picture tells the story.

Stock prices are often considered a leading indicator of underlying performance. Now may be the WORST time to consider a change...

 

[flamingtarhead]

Zipp ... I don't think the share prices in you graph for both Nike and UA are 'split adjusted' for both of their recent 2-1 stock splits ... .???? ...

 

[gocds]

If anyone thinks that Tom Jurich won't be checking out each and every "shoe" manufacturer believes that pigs will be flying by noon today. He is, first and foremost, the best AD in all of college sports. He'll listen to any manufacturer that is willing to talk and I assure you that they will all be at our door when the time comes. I'm like some others that really like our position with adidas but I'm sure that our administration will take all "offers and proposals" seriously.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[zipp]

Zipp ... I don't think the share prices in you graph for both Nike and UA are 'split adjusted' for both of their recent 2-1 stock splits ... .???? ...

Good point, but if they weren't split adjusted, you'd see a step change--straight line down--on the adjustment date(s). Those plots show gradual trends...

 

[zipp]

If anyone thinks that Tom Jurich won't be checking out each and every "shoe" manufacturer believes that pigs will be flying by noon today. He is, first and foremost, the best AD in all of college sports. He'll listen to any manufacturer that is willing to talk and I assure you that they will all be at our door when the time comes. I'm like some others that really like our position with adidas but I'm sure that our administration will take all "offers and proposals" seriously...

Exactly right. Going into a negotiation with these companies, Jurich ain't checking out their financial performance himself. He's a having a finance guy with U of L connections do that. And he's up to speed on how the shoe company across the table is doing financially--which translates to how much the company can afford to pay--and how important U of L is to that company's business plan. That is, how many other schools are under contract with said shoe company.

Quite honestly, I'd love to be Jurich knowing that adidas is doing better than UA and Nike and that we're one of adidas' trophy properties in collegiate sports. I'd probably argue $15 million a year is affordable and what U of L deserves.

I'll also let other guys worry about cumberbuns on our unis...