OT: Under Armour cancelling UCLA contract

This is less about UCLA and more about the current economic environment. Companies are doing everything they can and using any excuse to cut spending.


As I mentioned in my original post, multiple companies are cutting back all types of advertising and spending. Nike reported a surprise loss last week, a fairly large one, so dont be shocked if they start cutting back too.
 
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OK, so I'm not going to give you a hard tine on Nike as much anymore, you have folks who work there (or will) and I've been operating under the assumption that you (like those illogical Nike fanboys) are still operating under the delusions that Spike Lee is still making Nike commercials, Michael Jordan is still competing in slam dunk competitions, and Bo Jackson is still walking around smoothly and painlessly.

I'm not sure your point on Michigan, which moved to Nike in 2016, I believe. As for those other universities, I don't even know what to say. They may be geographically diverse, but those three universities are either occasional one-sport wonders or don't have a strong brand/sell lots of merch. When you say "buyer's remorse", I just don't see it. Could adidas be doing BETTER if Miami was stomping out ACC football teams like the old days? Sure. But as I pointed out, adidas has been making TO Chain gear and selling it like crazy, that is just an opportunity that wasn't planned in the contract. If adidas is nimble and jumps on the train when Miami makes some ACC runs for football and hoops, they will be fine.

As for UM colorways, why did I have to buy my Crazy Explosives and Alphabounce from AllCanes? Why doesn't adidas release that stuff wider? That's on adidas. Not every UM fan has had an account at AllCanes for 30 years like I've had.

Miami needs a good, strong 3-4 years to convert HS age kids into UM fans for life. UM can end the cycle of mediocrity in the Coastal, there is nothing stopping us from 4 consecutive ACC-CG appearances (and we might even beat Clemson this year with some Covid-19 assistance). Hoops should be in good shape for the next 4 years too, now that the ADIDAS-CREATED cloud is behind us.

If adidas wants to sell more, then they need to drop evidence of Nike's wrongdoing and get some of Nike's flagships put on NCAA probation.

Anyhow, all respect to you, Relly, I may not have the time, money, or desire that is comparable to your level, but I do admire and respect your knowledge in this area.

Miami needs to win more games and sell more merch. adidas needs to take responsibility for their mistakes and adjust their expectations.

I honestly believe that adidas is in the same boat with Officer Candidate Zack Mayo...




And u should know, no bull chit, I have the utmost respect for you as an alum and a guy who’s followed this program longer than I’ve been alive.

Shoes, fashion....that’s my arena. My connection to Nike started young being that Nike used to help my little league basketball team and was the first sponsor to give my high school, a school in the hood, our 1st big time sponsorship. We used to rock Karl Kani shoes (which were uncomfortable af). Byron Scott, who is an alum of my high school, made some calls and Nike came through, refinished our black top courts, our gym, and gave us fresh unis. They later did the same for our cross town rivals which is also in the hood.

It later expanded when my ex girl took on an internship w them and worked at their Beverly Hills Store. So I’ve been personally connected to them for a while. I saw the behind the scenes and their investment in youth sports. Adidas JUST got on this train w/ King’s vision for Adidas America, and his aggressiveness led to a resurgence of Adidas, but I was a little weary and leery when he abruptly stepped down (then all the impermissible benefits chit started coming out).

My point w our current sponsorship is we were promised to be their flagship; That means a lot. It means we are supposed to be first priority, and it felt like that initially; now, not so much. I’m not & have not been a fan of their fan jerseys compared to Nike. And, to your point, it’s been very difficult to find our colorway shoes.

You can go to Michigan’s blogs (and the only reason I know about Michigan’s contentious relationship w/ Adidas towards the last 3 yrs of their deal is b/c my baby cousin was attending there at that time & was dating/married to one of the Michigan Bloggers). Michigan was supposed to be Adidas’ flagship, as well, and then Michigan wasn’t delivering like they hoped. Players were complaining that the jerseys were ripping and Michigan couldn’t wear their 2013 Blue & Yellow road jerseys b/c Adidas wasn’t supplying them. They had to wear older jerseys which were easily spotted due to holes/ worn stitching. Adidas was forced to send out a tweet stating they had more gear.

I get frustrated seeing these Nike/Jordan Branded schools coming out w/ these colorways and exclusive shoes. Miami Yeezy’s????! That will absolutely murder the game, yet we don’t get that love. Adidas is up in ASU’s *** b/c of James Harden, and UDub is getting the love we were supposed to get. I get it; it’s a big deal stepping into the Northwest & prying away a school in the heart of Nike world, but WE are that brand.

With all that being said, we gotta stop just collecting checks. We need to have sponsors, and these kids respecting us. I’m hoping starting in 2020, we rejuvenate our rep and everything else will fall in line.
 
And u should know, no bull chit, I have the utmost respect for you as an alum and a guy who’s followed this program longer than I’ve been alive.

Shoes, fashion....that’s my arena. My connection to Nike started young being that Nike used to help my little league basketball team and was the first sponsor to give my high school, a school in the hood, our 1st big time sponsorship. We used to rock Karl Kani shoes (which were uncomfortable af). Byron Scott, who is an alum of my high school, made some calls and Nike came through, refinished our black top courts, our gym, and gave us fresh unis. They later did the same for our cross town rivals which is also in the hood.

It later expanded when my ex girl took on an internship w them and worked at their Beverly Hills Store. So I’ve been personally connected to them for a while. I saw the behind the scenes and their investment in youth sports. Adidas JUST got on this train w/ King’s vision for Adidas America, and his aggressiveness led to a resurgence of Adidas, but I was a little weary and leery when he abruptly stepped down (then all the impermissible benefits chit started coming out).

My point w our current sponsorship is we were promised to be their flagship; That means a lot. It means we are supposed to be first priority, and it felt like that initially; now, not so much. I’m not & have not been a fan of their fan jerseys compared to Nike. And, to your point, it’s been very difficult to find our colorway shoes.

You can go to Michigan’s blogs (and the only reason I know about Michigan’s contentious relationship w/ Adidas towards the last 3 yrs of their deal is b/c my baby cousin was attending there at that time & was dating/married to one of the Michigan Bloggers). Michigan was supposed to be Adidas’ flagship, as well, and then Michigan wasn’t delivering like they hoped. Players were complaining that the jerseys were ripping and Michigan couldn’t wear their 2013 Blue & Yellow road jerseys b/c Adidas wasn’t supplying them. They had to wear older jerseys which were easily spotted due to holes/ worn stitching. Adidas was forced to send out a tweet stating they had more gear.

I get frustrated seeing these Nike/Jordan Branded schools coming out w/ these colorways and exclusive shoes. Miami Yeezy’s????! That will absolutely murder the game, yet we don’t get that love. Adidas is up in ASU’s *** b/c of James Harden, and UDub is getting the love we were supposed to get. I get it; it’s a big deal stepping into the Northwest & prying away a school in the heart of Nike world, but WE are that brand.

With all that being said, we gotta stop just collecting checks. We need to have sponsors, and these kids respecting us. I’m hoping starting in 2020, we rejuvenate our rep and everything else will fall in line.
Do this and everything else happens.
 
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Yeesh. UCLA has sucked so long that UA wants a refund. Maybe a good thing Miami didn't sign a deal with Under Armour.

UCLA has been at a level lower than us. Miami actually has more wins Texas, let alone UCLA over the last ten years. Over the last 5 seasons it's not even close with the Bruins.

Last 10 Years
Miami: 75 wins (40 wins in the last 5 seasons)
Texas: 71 wins (35 wins in the last 5 seasons)
UCLA: 64 wins (25 wins in the last 5 seasons)
 
UCLA has been at a level lower than us. Miami actually has more wins Texas, let alone UCLA over the last ten years. Over the last 5 seasons it's not even close with the Bruins.

Last 10 Years
Miami: 75 wins (40 wins in the last 5 seasons)
Texas: 71 wins (35 wins in the last 5 seasons)
UCLA: 64 wins (25 wins in the last 5 seasons)
Nice stats...
 
And u should know, no bull chit, I have the utmost respect for you as an alum and a guy who’s followed this program longer than I’ve been alive.

Shoes, fashion....that’s my arena. My connection to Nike started young being that Nike used to help my little league basketball team and was the first sponsor to give my high school, a school in the hood, our 1st big time sponsorship. We used to rock Karl Kani shoes (which were uncomfortable af). Byron Scott, who is an alum of my high school, made some calls and Nike came through, refinished our black top courts, our gym, and gave us fresh unis. They later did the same for our cross town rivals which is also in the hood.

It later expanded when my ex girl took on an internship w them and worked at their Beverly Hills Store. So I’ve been personally connected to them for a while. I saw the behind the scenes and their investment in youth sports. Adidas JUST got on this train w/ King’s vision for Adidas America, and his aggressiveness led to a resurgence of Adidas, but I was a little weary and leery when he abruptly stepped down (then all the impermissible benefits chit started coming out).

My point w our current sponsorship is we were promised to be their flagship; That means a lot. It means we are supposed to be first priority, and it felt like that initially; now, not so much. I’m not & have not been a fan of their fan jerseys compared to Nike. And, to your point, it’s been very difficult to find our colorway shoes.

You can go to Michigan’s blogs (and the only reason I know about Michigan’s contentious relationship w/ Adidas towards the last 3 yrs of their deal is b/c my baby cousin was attending there at that time & was dating/married to one of the Michigan Bloggers). Michigan was supposed to be Adidas’ flagship, as well, and then Michigan wasn’t delivering like they hoped. Players were complaining that the jerseys were ripping and Michigan couldn’t wear their 2013 Blue & Yellow road jerseys b/c Adidas wasn’t supplying them. They had to wear older jerseys which were easily spotted due to holes/ worn stitching. Adidas was forced to send out a tweet stating they had more gear.

I get frustrated seeing these Nike/Jordan Branded schools coming out w/ these colorways and exclusive shoes. Miami Yeezy’s????! That will absolutely murder the game, yet we don’t get that love. Adidas is up in ASU’s *** b/c of James Harden, and UDub is getting the love we were supposed to get. I get it; it’s a big deal stepping into the Northwest & prying away a school in the heart of Nike world, but WE are that brand.

With all that being said, we gotta stop just collecting checks. We need to have sponsors, and these kids respecting us. I’m hoping starting in 2020, we rejuvenate our rep and everything else will fall in line.


All respect, sir. I started off with trying to toss in a bit of humor with my hatred for Nike, but you are certainly not one of those Nike fanboys who just like Nike because they are #1. You know the game backwards and forwards and I truly respect that.

I certainly can't speak to the support of the youth game, but I remember back in the early 80s when the primary Nike shoes you could buy were the canvas sneaker with the light blue swoosh and the white leather sneaker with the swoosh outlined by holes instead of a sewn-on version. From that day forward, I wore Nike until 2015.

What angers me is very simple. Whatever price Nike was "willing" to pay to retain Miami, there was some additional money between what Nike would pay and what adidas paid. THAT'S IT. You can certainly pay that differential with the history between UM and Nike, and the VAST amount of money that Nike has made since. It is literally a SMALL PRICE to pay for loyalty and history and respect and love.

Many companies frame the first dollar they made. Many companies keep their first prototype as a kind of historical reminder of where they started. In 2015, Miami wasn't on top, but we also weren't "Army" or "Yale" from a football sense.

If Nike loved us, they could have set some terms. They could have "extended" us rather than committing to one of the 10 or 12 or 15 year deals that were all the rage in 2015. Nike could have HELPED us get to where we needed to be.

Instead, motherfvgging UCF has the swoosh and we got the shaft. I dumped 35 years of brand loyalty over that kind of bullsh!te.

If Nike loves UM so much, they need to show it with money. And adidas needs to step up too. Miami too, but you have to be honest, that gotdamm basketball nonsense set us back years on the hoops side.

Nike has 7 years to make a pitch, they could bring back some 25-year throwbacks and I would be willing to forgive them. But until that time, all that "love" means nothing without the money and the commitment.

Peace and respect to you, Relly. Honestly.
 
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If Adidas cancelled Miamis contract, what other shoe companies would be interested? Maybe British Knights. If we're lucky Sperrys or Crocs. I'd wear topsiders with cleats.
My New Balances are supportive and stylish. White never goes out of style and they have a sporty "N" on the side. If only they had had Velcro like @Cribby's, they'd be perfect.
 
All respect, sir. I started off with trying to toss in a bit of humor with my hatred for Nike, but you are certainly not one of those Nike fanboys who just like Nike because they are #1. You know the game backwards and forwards and I truly respect that.

I certainly can't speak to the support of the youth game, but I remember back in the early 80s when the primary Nike shoes you could buy were the canvas sneaker with the light blue swoosh and the white leather sneaker with the swoosh outlined by holes instead of a sewn-on version. From that day forward, I wore Nike until 2015.

What angers me is very simple. Whatever price Nike was "willing" to pay to retain Miami, there was some additional money between what Nike would pay and what adidas paid. THAT'S IT. You can certainly pay that differential with the history between UM and Nike, and the VAST amount of money that Nike has made since. It is literally a SMALL PRICE to pay for loyalty and history and respect and love.

Many companies frame the first dollar they made. Many companies keep their first prototype as a kind of historical reminder of where they started. In 2015, Miami wasn't on top, but we also weren't "Army" or "Yale" from a football sense.

If Nike loved us, they could have set some terms. They could have "extended" us rather than committing to one of the 10 or 12 or 15 year deals that were all the rage in 2015. Nike could have HELPED us get to where we needed to be.

Instead, motherfvgging UCF has the swoosh and we got the shaft. I dumped 35 years of brand loyalty over that kind of bullsh!te.

If Nike loves UM so much, they need to show it with money. And adidas needs to step up too. Miami too, but you have to be honest, that gotdamm basketball nonsense set us back years on the hoops side.

Nike has 7 years to make a pitch, they could bring back some 25-year throwbacks and I would be willing to forgive them. But until that time, all that "love" means nothing without the money and the commitment.

Peace and respect to you, Relly. Honestly.

Lol; bro u sound like me when I was on the phone w my frat who works for them. Unfortunately he doesn’t oversee that dept, he’s in marketing for the Taiwan market. He, too, is a Canes fan.....but I lit into him asking those same ?’s. I agree w u wholeheartedly and apart of me is bitter towards Nike b/c we were their first love in this part of the business.

They had ample ways to structure our deal. Truth be told, I rather we have an incentive based deal simply b/c we perform better when guaranteed money ain’t available; even our current deal w Adidas. Trust me, I totally get & understand everything U’re saying, and u’re absolutely right.
 
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Y'all better not make me bust my lottos out the closest....
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UCLA has been at a level lower than us. Miami actually has more wins Texas, let alone UCLA over the last ten years. Over the last 5 seasons it's not even close with the Bruins.

Last 10 Years
Miami: 75 wins (40 wins in the last 5 seasons)
Texas: 71 wins (35 wins in the last 5 seasons)
UCLA: 64 wins (25 wins in the last 5 seasons)

Like I said; UCLA has sucked so bad for so long. How Nike did us, Adidas did them. UA wwaaaaaaaay overbid for UCLA and Adidas was absolutely ecstatic to let them leave. I guess UA was banking on Chip Kelly turning them into a baby Oregon, along w the basketball program turning back the hands of time. I know UCLA have a hella strong softball gymnastics, and water polo program; BUT LET’S BE HONEST; UA didn’t cut that big of a check to invest in some water polo and back flips. Lol. They were banking on football, 1st, and basketball 2nd; neither have come to fruition for a while. UCLA winning titles in all other chit that don’t matter to the average fan or money generated sport.
 
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We are starting to see diminishing returns on sports advertising investments in general. Some of these TV contracts are starting to look like bad deals because the costs of TV rights are outweighing the revenue gained by airing the games. You’re going to see more apparel deals get cut like this one. And a lot of the new deals are going to be for a lot less money. My sister handles the Coca Cola contracts with UM, FIU and FAU athletics. They’re capping the amount they spend on sponsorships. Pepsi spent a cagillion dollars on the NFL sponsorship and are losing their ***. The return on investment isn’t there in sports anymore.
 
We are starting to see diminishing returns on sports advertising investments in general. Some of these TV contracts are starting to look like bad deals because the costs of TV rights are outweighing the revenue gained by airing the games. You’re going to see more apparel deals get cut like this one. And a lot of the new deals are going to be for a lot less money. My sister handles the Coca Cola contracts with UM, FIU and FAU athletics. They’re capping the amount they spend on sponsorships. Pepsi spent a cagillion dollars on the NFL sponsorship and are losing their ***. The return on investment isn’t there in sports anymore.


Yep. ****, this started happening in NASCAR over 10 years ago, and NASCAR fans are the most brand-loyal and watch the most commercial advertising. Overall, sports content is still better than most other forms of programming when it comes to commercials, but it's still on the decline. Live attendance is dropping in all sports due to fantasy sports and 72 inch HDTVs. Fanatics makes a ton of relatively cheap apparel, you don't just have to buy the officially-licensed Nike and adidas stuff anymore.

The money is not going to be as big in the future.
 
I will say that even with the team being mediocre for a long time, Miami is still a much bigger national brand than a lot of programs that have had more success recently. Winning on the field helps your marketing brand a lot but there's a lot more to selling products than just being a good team in a tiny market. Alabama is probably the premier athletic program in the nation (at least for football) but they don't have a nation-wide footprint. Outside of the south, nobody is buying up Alabama gear despite the fact that they've essentially been the Patriots of college football for the past 15 years.
 
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