shape we are now,” Jurich said. “Adidas has
stood arm-in-arm with us through adversity and
success. The biggest winners in our cooperative
partnership have clearly been our student-
athletes, who are at the focus of all that we do.”
King, the Adidas’ North American president,
explained, “Louisville has been an important
partner of ours for nearly 20 years, and we see
tremendous value in our new partnership as we
continue to shape the future of sports together.”
While Louisville’s success led to higher
numbers in each subsequent apparel deal,
Adidas’ rise as a North American power
helped send the newly announced deal into
the stratosphere.
Essentially, as Louisville built itself into
a multi-sport national power under Jurich’s
guidance, Adidas built itself into a stronger
American brand.
Signing innovative shoewear designers and
art and culture influencers like Kanye West,
Kendall Jenner, Pharrell and Missy Elliott, Adidas
transformed its image from European soccer
shoes and shell-toes to Yeezys, UltraBoosts and
innovative design like Tubular Shadow.
It has worked so well that Adidas’ stock has
been rising for nearly two years straight and the
brand just leaped Michael Jordan’s signature line.
“Adidas has overtaken Jordan as the No.
2 brand in U.S. sport footwear. This is an
achievement I never thought I would see in my
lifetime,” sports industry analyst Matt Powell of
the NPD Group wrote. “Adidas sport footwear
sales grew more than half for the month of
August, and shares grew by nearly half, to 13
percent of the market.”
“Adidas basketball grew more than 40 percent,
while Nike declined in the mid-singles and
Brand Jordan lost about a third of its sales,” said
Tonya Garcia of MarketWatch in mid-September.
Adidas’ rise in market share and stock price
meant more money available for schools like
Louisville, Nebraska and Kansas.
THE FUTURE
So that’s where this new deal came from, but
where is it going?
Jurich was asked to name details at the official
announcement and declined, smiling while
saying, “We have big plans and we’re excited
about our future together.”
Adidas wants UofL – and its other collegiate
U OF L & ADIDAS
PARTNERSHIP BY
THE NUMBERS
10
YEARS
$16
PER SEASON
2
ADIDAS HAS
OVERTAKEN JORDAN
AS THE NO. 2 BRAND IN
U.S. SPORT FOOTWEAR
partners – to think outside the traditional box
of teams wearing sneakers and gear.
Jurich said, “We are thrilled to be partnered
with an enterprise who shares our passion
for innovation, pioneering efforts, striving for
excellence and simply doing things differently.”
Doing things differently fits with Jurich’s
brand – he is always thinking five years down the
road to see what is next in collegiate athletics.
Part of Louisville’s plan is to continue its strong
Adidas Interns program, where UofL students
can learn the business of sports apparel with
an inside look at the Adidas brand.
And what else will the deal include? Jurich
and Adidas’ Chris McGuire said fan and media
will have to wait and see.
“It’s not vague,” McGuire said. McGuire is
Adidas’ senior director of sports marketing. “It’s
just that our product timelines are 12 months
in advance, so we have a lot of work to do on
our end to bring those products to market. It’s a
long process for releasing products. There’s a lot
of concepts that are out there, a lot of different
ideas, just not anything that’s ready to come
to fruition yet.”
Part of the Adidas partnership announcement
centered around Louisville Athletics’ new slogan,
“We, The Future.” The slogan, developed over the
last 18 to 24 months, firmly focuses Louisville
Athletics’ vision on the future of its athletic
programs.
“It is here the future of sport will be written,”
the UofL mantra states. The “We, The Future”
branding is all over Louisville’s campus and
athletic fields this fall.
Louisville’s slogan fits hand in glove with
Adidas’ longtime mantra “Impossible is Nothing,”
especially considering “Impossible is Nothing”
comes from a 1974 quote by Louisville’s native
son, Muhammad Ali.
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around
by small men who find it easier to live in the world
they’ve been given than to explore the power
they have to change it,” Ali said. “Impossible is
not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a
declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
Most people familiar with the metropolitan
commuter school in the early 1990s would have
thought it impossible that Louisville would sign
a $160 million dollar deal with an international
brand like Adidas. But it happened this fall.
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