Anxious to improve its low market share in the U.S., Adidas has signed two important basketball sponsorship deals, focusing on individual players, after walking off from a previous marketing contract with the NBA, which is going to be in the hands of Nike from the 2015/16 playing season.
The German brand confirmed two weeks ago that it has snatched James Harden, the shooting guard of the Houston Rockets, away from the Swoosh. It will not comment on reports that the contract is worth more than $15 million a year. According to other sources, it could cost Adidas up to $200 million over the 13-year duration of the deal, which starts on Oct. 1. The contract will involve the launch of a signature basketball collection and collaboration in product design and marketing.
Harden, a highly-rated 25-year-old NBA star with interesting fashion connections, was one of the major properties of Nike along with American basketball champions such as Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving. Known as the Beard, Harden would join a Three Stripes hoops roster that includes Damian Lillard, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Andrew Wiggins, Tim Duncan and Joakim Noah.
Adidas has also announced a partnership with Justice Winslow, the No. 10 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. Harden and Winslow will be featured in one of Adidas' global brand campaigns that will coincide with the start of the NBA season. Adidas says that Winslow will also contribute to the development of its range of basketball shoes and clothing.
In another sports marketing move across the Atlantic Ocean, the Big a has agreed to pay $6.7 million a year, up from a previous annual fee of $3.7 million, to extend an endorsement contract with the Indiana Hoosiers, the intercollegiate sports teams of Indiana University at Bloomington.
Reportedly, Adidas has also won a bid to be the official supplier of the on-ice uniforms for all the 30 teams in the U.S. and Canada that belong to the National Hockey League (NHL), starting with the 2017-18 season. It has thus beaten competing bids by Bauer, the brand owned by Performance Sports Group, and Under Armour.
Adidas would take over the NHL contract from Reebok, which has held it since 2007. A report from TNS indicates that Adidas would pay twice as much as Reebok for the contract, which called for annual payments of $35 million. The deal would help support CCM's equipment business. Visibility in the NHL would have the added advantage of a strong following in Northern and Eastern Europe.
