Please stop with the absolute BULL**** of “if adidas offers a better deal”. That is a distractor. That is pre-rationalization of surrender.
First, we are acting like a couple million really makes a difference. It doesn’t. This staggering $20M number being offered to Tennessee is a fraction of the needy sucking hole known as the Tennessee Athletic budget. And nobody is saying “do it for free”. But people ignore the fact that the likely contract offer between Nike and adidas will be…MAYBE the cost of one blue-chip player.
So while the money differential may be significant to, say, Davidson University, it should not be the sole determinant for Miami. The amount of suck-tax that Miami has paid over the past 10 years for being an adidas school in the ACC is staggering, and far exceeds the extra pennies from adidas.
Second, it’s sad to see all this pontificating about how this is a “BUSINESS” coming from guys who have never seen a multi-million dollar business deal up close. I have routinely seen sellers take “less guaranteed cash money” in favor of other factors, such as the strength of the buyer (equity comp usually exceeds cash comp, all other things being equal). We have a bunch of scaredy-cat fans who think we should take the easy guaranteed money instead of betting on ourselves, our brand, and our success.
We have Mario. We have Jai. We will have a replacement for JD someday. A winning Miami is a top 10 merch brand in the country. Not just in Tennessee where there is no other competitive university. Coast-to-coast, people wear The U and respond to The U. So let’s get a 15% royalty rate from Jordan Brand and then go out and sell the **** out of some co-branded Miami-Big 10 merch. And **** whatever 2nd place adidas offers.
Miami’s Athletic Department will not succeed or fail on a million or two extra that is offered for our merch rights. But we will certainly suffer if recruits continue to perceive us as a second-tier program in a second-tier conference rocking second-tier uniforms and selling second-tier merch.
Now THAT is a suck-tax, no matter how many games we win against Boston College and Wake Forest.
It amazes me this rhetoric is still spewed. I’m also old enough to remember that same poster was on their high horse talking about how Adidas prioritized us, ignoring all of the language violations that occurred; &, after that was thoroughly debunked via empirical evidence, they go right back to their rudimentary argument of “they pay more $$.” Lol
One of my biggest issues in life in this era of social media & its various platforms is that it’s empowering ppl w little to no experience, connection, or research to constantly be loud & wrong. It also irks me the length of those that r confronted w evidence find a way to constantly move goal post so they can continue on the parade of being loud & wrong.
The only thing I agree w is this is a business, & as a business it’s up to u thoroughly vet & leverage all tangible points to negotiate the best possible outcome. So if I’m UTenn, I’m going to ask:
What r the contingencies of this alleged $20m?
How much of this is cash flow vs. equipment cost?
Are royalties involved & at what percentage?
How much is allocated towards NIL?
What does the face of Adidas look like compared to a KU, Texas A&M or Miami since they, too, were promised this?
What are the parameters, or loop holes that can negate this offer?
If royalties are involved, what are the sales looking like for Adidas products vs. Nike? In fact compare apparel sales pre-Nike & post Nike & see if it’s comparable.
Now w all that info, u bring it back to Nike. Nike may say, hypothetically, “Based upon our tier rating, we can’t match that $20m; but, here’s what we can do:
Offer a $10m rate, w performance bonuses for the football, basketball, & baseball programs. We’ll provide u w NIL opportunities for current student athletes, & w/ our policies along w being the current leader of HS NIL, u’ll have a greater chance of securing the top HS recruits. We’ll also have ur royalties set at 15% on all branded items, along w the opportunity of equipment conversion into cash. This package will not only allow u to remain competitive, provide an influx of cash flow throughout ur AD, but also drive more traffic to ur brand for
long term benefits.”
That right there is business, that’s negotiation; not, “ooooo, they say they’re going to pay more $$, so let’s take it.”
The Jamaican Track team was offered a lucrative deal by Adidas, I mean big $$; they renewed w Puma. U know y? B/c of all the off-track benefits that Puma provided to a proud T&F program. Puma saw the offer, tweaked theirs & voila.
UTenn may indeed go back to Adidas, & I guarantee they’ll regret it in about 5 yrs just like all the other programs. Oh, here’s another article highlighting how Adidas will easily look to exploit loop holes when “paying” big $$ to pull a program from Nike.
United’s £900m Kit Deal with Adidas at Risk Amid Relegation Concerns by Javier Morales on Jan 2, 2025 for EPLindex.com
eplindex.com
Sooo I’m guessing that the genie is already outta the bottle with us and Adidas, huh? That being the case, means it’s almost time to break out in my happy dance, huh?
