The Gregg case lays bare a recurring tension in sportswear: public commitments to women’s sports investment that diverge sharply from internal resourcing, accountability and workplace culture.
When sportswear brands announce investment in women’s sports, the gap between stated commitment and internal resourcing is rarely visible from the outside. A lawsuit filed this week in Oregon offers an unusually specific account of what that gap can look like internally at one of the world’s largest sporting goods companies.
Lindsay Gregg, former Head of Women’s Basketball Sports Marketing at Adidas, filed a complaint in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon, on April 16, according to court documents obtained by The Athletic. The filing alleges gender discrimination, chronic under-resourcing and retaliatory termination after Gregg raised complaints about both workplace inequality and the safety of athletes under her care.
A department of one with twice the workload
The complaint describes Gregg as a solo operation managing twice as many athletes as male peers in Adidas sports marketing, while being repeatedly denied requests for additional staff and budget. Hired in January 2022 to build Adidas’s pipeline of female basketball prospects at collegiate and high school level, Gregg grew the program significantly, according to the filing. Her attorney, Maria Witt of Albies & Stark LLC, stated in the complaint that Gregg “did not receive nearly enough resources to adequately staff and support the program.”
In January 2026, Gregg formally reported to a senior human resources director her belief that Adidas was treating her less favorably than male counterparts in comparable roles. No action followed, the filing alleges.
A safety complaint became the turning point
The sequence of events preceding Gregg’s dismissal accelerated at National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Weekend in February. On Feb. 15, Gregg reported to Adidas Senior Human Resources Director Benjamin Lee that Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players Sophie Cunningham and Erica Wheeler – both Adidas athletes – had been placed in a shared trailer that was accessed by individuals unknown to them.
Gregg alleged the situation was potentially unsafe and reported it through HR channels. In an email to an Adidas HR manager cited in the complaint, she wrote that when men feel entitled to take over women’s safe spaces, it undermines the purpose of those spaces. Two weeks after that complaint, Gregg was dismissed. Her supervisor characterized the decision as a “business decision,” according to the filing. Gregg is seeking compensation for lost wages, reinstatement to her position or payment for projected future earnings.
Adidas had not responded publicly to the filing at the time of publication, either to The Athletic or to the Daily Mail.
