The love triangle between Nike, adidas and the German Football Association (DFB), continues to unfold with the most recent events involving Nikes bid, adidas refusal to match, and a possible court battle between adidas and the DFB. Reports out of Germany placed the Nike bid at 56 million per year, compared to adidas current 11 million. Just before the New Year, Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas, went on the record saying that entering a bidding war with Nike “would be crazy.”
To avoid that war, adidas seems to have staked its claim in Nikes attempt to begin sponsoring the DFB in 2011. adidas claims that its current contract is set to expire in 2014, while the DFB claims the deal will end in 2011. DFB President Dr. Theo Zwanziger said, “The DFB Chairmanship serves as a custodian for a non-profit estate. We can only reject an offer by Nike, that exceeds the adidas offer by such a wide margin, if we would be contractually bound to adidas.” So, by the sounds of things, unless German courts bail adidas out, the DFB will be swooshing around the field come 2011.
