Adidas AG plans to significantly hike its endorsements of NFL and MLB players in the next few years, Adidas North American President Mark King said in an interview last week with the Wall Street Journal. The report stated Adidas will sign as many as 250 NFL and 250 MLB players for endorsement deals over the next three years, up from a total of fewer than 40 now.
The increased spend comes as Adidas recently reached deals with both the NFL and MLB that will allow players it endorses to wear the company’s three-stripe logos on the equipment they wear on the field. It also comes as the brand slipped last year into third place in the U.S. behind Under Armour and dominant leader Nike.
King told the Journal: “We can’t use the global strategy. I know we’re a soccer brand globally, but in the US we have to be about US sport. We can still be number one in soccer, but that can’t be what drives our business.”
Current Adidas-sponsored football players include DeMarco Murray, Von Miller, Robert Griffin III, Frank Gore, Eric Berry, Sammy Watkins and Jimmy Graham. Its current MLB lineup includes BJ and Justin Upton, Coco Crisp and Chase Utley.
On its third-quarter conference call, Herbert Hainer, Adidas' CEO, hinted at such as an increased investment.
“Regaining our form in this market is a top priority on our group's agenda,” said Hainer. “And we had made this market a key priority for all our senior management in the company.”
He noted that the company has made numerous hires in the region, including installing King, who formerly ran Adidas Taylor-Made, as president last June. The Adidas brand in the region also added “key external talent” in design, a reference to the hiring of three footwear designers from Nike who will start in the second half of this year in a new Brooklyn studio.
“We also has been very active getting back on the field of play, whether it be investments in established or young NBA talents or the return of the 3-Stripes footwear to the NFL,” said Hainer. “We will share more specific details on our future plans as part of our strategic update plans for the second half in March 2015.”
Earlier in January, Adidas become the new uniform supplier to the University of Miami, ending the school’s pioneering partnership with Nike that had lasted 27 years. Adidas also took Arizona State from Nike in December.
