The news just keeps getting better for adidas-Salomon in the U.S. as Nike and the U.S. Olympic Committee announced last week that Nike would replace adidas as an official sponsor and licensee of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams commencing after the deal with adidas expires after the Summer Games in Athens, Greece this summer.

The agreement, which officially starts in January 2005, will cover the 2006 and 2008 teams and will see U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes wearing Nike athletic footwear and apparel on the victory podium.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Additionally, Nike will outfit athletes with athletic wear and performance apparel for approximately half the National Governing Bodies including existing partnerships with USA Track & Field, U.S. Soccer and U.S. Speedskating.

The new deal comes as adidas continues to stumble in the region and recently made changes that were designed to emphasize product and marketing efforts on the performance end of the business, including the move of the Global Marketing unit to Portland, OR.

Nike has been busy over the last few years, scoring sponsorship deals with Soccer clubs and national terms worldwide, eating into adidas’ core base.


>>> Losing another major property in a market they sorely need the exposure can’t sit well in Germany…