Corporate
Governance and strategies
Corporate governance and competitive strategy—analyzing board dynamics, activist pressure, market positioning decisions, geographic expansion, entry and exit strategies, portfolio optimization, category shifts, organizational restructuring, and the strategic moves determining where and how sporting goods companies compete.
UTMB 2026: the access model and the backlash against it
Formula 1 sells the feeling of access. Paddock passes cost five figures. UTMB gives it free. In the street.
“Simplify to amplify”: Under Armour’s race to win runners
SGIE in conversation with UA on cutting the range and finding the runner.
Four days to kill a $20bn plan, and sap FIFA’s leader
A failed bid to sell equity in FIFA’s commercial rights has triggered a leadership crisis at the organization.
Foot Locker to open new kind of neighborhood store in LA
Foot Locker opens a community-oriented store in LA’s Crenshaw on Aug. 22, co-developed with Nike, Jordan Brand and Converse, highlighting shifts at both Nike and Foot Locker under Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Can Britain’s lifestyle darlings crack Europe?
Passenger, Finisterre and Bleubird are big at home. The continent never built a shelf for what they sell.
Prediction markets carve into the sports rights pie
Prediction markets are entering sports rights. Same package. New buyer.
adidas CEO apologizes for World Cup pink boot pileup
Bjorn Gulden calls the fluorescent pink boot takeover an accident nobody wanted.
MLB, NHL sign prediction market deals amid legal fight
Polymarket and Kalshi have signed deals with MLB, the NHL and other leagues, each voidable if courts rule the contracts illegal.
Fanatics brings some financial plumbing in house
Better known for jerseys and memorabilia, Fanatics is acquiring the exchange and clearinghouse behind its prediction markets.
Garmin CIRQA: The real story might be elsewhere
The same week it launched a subscription-free band, Garmin quietly bought its way into the subscription layer instead.
Macron: the brand that grew by saying ‘no’
Macron’s Chief Brand & Communications Officer Angelo Marino explains why 22 years of organic growth start with knowing when to refuse.
El Corte Inglés seeks to invest more
The Spanish department store group will ask its board in September to raise investment in AI, e-commerce and logistics.
EU destruction ban: five moves to make
Large brands are in scope now. Mid-sized brands have until July 2030. The prize is what they do with those four years.
Nike ACG is back again. Can it back up the hype?
A surfwear distribution agency, marketing hype and an open-hole shirt test whether ACG’s story and execution are aligned.
Case study: how Xtep turned Saucony into a profit engine
A $61 million China buyout turned a break-even brand into a fast-growing profit engine
Physical inactivity 2026: The cost of standing still
The WEF puts $169 billion of sporting goods revenue at risk from rising inactivity, and the WHO’s 2026 milestone will pass unmet. Our Impact of Sports Special gathers the new evidence and the people working on the problem, from Brussels to the brands.
Asics Ventures launches Kenzen startup pitch program
Asics Ventures formalizes seven years of pitch events into Kenzen, an annual program debuting in Ann Arbor in October 2026
A seat at the table is not the same as a voice at it
FESI represents 1,800 European manufacturers on EU rules, but most reach it only through national federations, not directly.
Gymshark founder in talks to buy back stake from GA
Founder Ben Francis is negotiating to buy back part of the 21 percent stake General Atlantic bought in 2020
Nike’s ‘reset’ of China policy leaves distributors guessing
Topsports halted trading and said Nike sent no formal notice, even as online sales make up 22% of its revenue.
Kalshi booms on sports
From politics to parlays: sports now drives 85% of Kalshi’s $112 billion lifetime volume.
The sneaker brand that became an AI company
Allbirds sold its brand IP to American Exchange Group for $39m, renamed itself Smartbird, and hired a former AWS executive as CEO.
ASICS plants its lab in France
ASICS establishes its European Institute of Sport Science, with HumanFab as its first research partner for tennis biomechanics.
Meet the Challenger: Joma
Joma has crossed €200 million while refusing to enter lifestyle - a constraint it calls a competitive asset.
When brands stop sponsoring sport and start building it
The Satisfy x adidas Circle Pit wasn’t just a product launch. It was an argument that brands, not federations, now set the rules for how sport grows.
Asics to spin off Onitsuka Tiger
The brand grew 43 percent last year with a 38 percent margin: now it gets its own company.
Intersport adds a fourth C-suite seat
Intersport creates Chief Strategic Brands Partnership Officer role as its executive team grows to four
Why sports retail is consolidating and fragmenting at once
Nike reversed its DTC strategy. Gresvig and XXL collapsed. Lululemon, Vuori and Arc’teryx built their own channels. The wholesale model is being rewritten from both ends.
Frasers wants a Big Four auditor. Will any take the job?
The Sports Direct owner has approached all four major accounting firms about a 2029 mandate, per FT reporting
The paddock is the new pitch: adidas moves in, Nike watches
The confirmed three-year deal, effective 2027, gives adidas three top-tier F1 teams and sharpens the question of Nike’s continued paddock absence.
Uneekor launches in UK and Europe with new sales team
The AI-powered golf simulator brand appoints EMEA Director of Sales, UK & Ireland Director, and EMEA Supply Chain Manager.
The brands skipping the World Cup on purpose
Castore and Macron have no shirt at the 2026 World Cup. That is not a gap in their strategy. It is the strategy.
Reebok’s China reset, take two
ABG targets 200 stores and $1 billion in annual China sales by 2036 with an operator incorporated in 2025
Under Armour cuts 25% of SKUs
Under Armour has met its two-year SKU reduction target and signalled further cuts, pairing assortment discipline with category management to protect margins under sustained tariff pressure.
Lululemon settles proxy fight with Chip Wilson
The founder wins board representation. Lululemon wins silence. The deal is narrower than it looks.
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