Adidas Contract with Vols

Who cares if you have an on campus rep? The prestige with kids that love Nike is priceless. Anybody who thinks Nike wouldnt help us and doesnt look better knows nothing about the younger generation and style.
 
Who cares if you have an on campus rep? The prestige with kids that love Nike is priceless. Anybody who thinks Nike wouldnt help us and doesnt look better knows nothing about the younger generation and style.

The teams care if there's an on-campus rep. That's huge. If you ask any of the teams at UT, they'll tell you that's the most important element of the adidas contract with Tennessee.
 
Why hasn't Nike changed Penn State's unis? Or Ohio State's? What about USC's? Such an invalid point. That adidas gear just has got to go.

Actually, they've changed both USC and Ohio State in the last 6 years. There was quite an uproar when they made changes to the OSU jerseys, but they stuck anyway.

Again, if you read my post, their top teir schools are different. Nike has never offered to make us a top-tier school. They offered us a B-tier package, and with that B package, the school signs away its design rights. You get what Nike sends. The coaches have input, but Nike makes the call.
 
I agree. There's no way in hell Nike has control like that. Maybe over some Sun Belt team, but not at a big school.

They most certainly do, especially in basketball. Anyone that isn't in their "ELITE" program in basketball (teams that have been to Final Fours and have a silver shield in their logos on the uniforms) gives up control in exchange for the check. It's standard in Nike's college team contracts.
 
We've NEVER wore Nike. It was Sports Belle then Addias.

We did wear Nike cleats and our coaches wore Nike gear on the sidelines.

We did, however, wear Sports Belle uniforms in football, basketball, and baseball until 1997.

From 1998-2001, we wore adidas uniforms that were manufactured by Sports Belle in those sports.
 
I know here at UW we switched to Nike this year at CDC's request. He thought it would help with recruiting when he was hired.

We had New Balance, which I thought was unique. Apparently it's not "cool" enough for recruits.
 
My .02(This is just from personal experience I've had with these brands)..............

Adidas - Makes pretty good on field equipment, but some crappy fan gear. I cannot stand Adidas, and if Tennessee wasn't sponsored by them, I don't think I'd buy a single Adidas product.

Nike - I'm kind of on the fence with Nike in terms of actual on-field equipment. It's alright, but I've never been a fan. Now, in terms of fan gear, I absolutely love Nike. Must be why I have more USC Trojans stuff than any other team except for Tennessee.

Under Armour - Fan gear is, well, atrocious. They don't make very good stuff for the fans. Now, on-field, I love Under Armour stuff. Cleats fit good, although the actual cleats themselves wear down quick. UA gloves, heat and cold gear are absolutely boss.

So, in my estimation...

Fan Gear

Nike > Adidas > Under Armour

On-Field Equipment

Under Armour > Adidas > Nike
 
I am sure that everyone knows that Adidas gave Michigan its, "favored program clause" - which specifically sets forth that no Adidas school can receive a greater amount of money than Michigan, including Notre Dame and Tennessee.

If another Adidas school has its revenue raised, Michigan's is automatically raised, accordingly.

Here's a snippet from an interview with Michigan AD Bill Martin from 2007, following the announcement that they were switching to Adidas:

Martin:
We got a most favored program clause. There's never going to be an Adidas school that gets a nickel more than us, either in product or money.

Q: How important was the favored program clause?

Martin: Very important, if they raise the cap. They may say, hey, no problem, we're not going to pay anybody else any more than this. I don't know. But over an 8-year period, there's a chance that will happen. I couldn't get that from Nike. I wanted it, and they said they would guarantee we'd have the highest contract at the time the contract was signed.

Q: It's interesting to me how much that particular clause has meant to your fans. It's gotten a lot of buzz.

Martin: Did it? That's a pride factor. Nobody is going to be better than us (emphasis mine). I'm glad they recognize that, because it was important to me. It makes me feel like I did my job.

Couple of Questions:
1. If getting the, "favored program" status was a sign that he was doing his job, what does that say about Hammy for failing to do so?

2. Is the on-campus coordinator really worth anything to off-set this "lesser favored" status, and the other disadvantages which seem to come with the contract, ala bball recruiting to a non-Nike school?

3. How does it feel to know that Adidas believes that Michigan is a better program than UT? Now, how about the fact that they spend their money in support of that belief, as well? Does that sting a little deeper?

You can read the rest of the article, here:
Bill Martin talks Adidas, Part 1 | Jim Carty Archives - MLive.com
 
Couple of Questions:
1. If getting the, "favored program" status was a sign that he was doing his job, what does that say about Hammy for failing to do so?

2. Is the on-campus coordinator really worth anything to off-set this "lesser favored" status, and the other disadvantages which seem to come with the contract, ala bball recruiting to a non-Nike school?

3. How does it feel to know that Adidas believes that Michigan is a better program than UT? Now, how about the fact that they spend their money in support of that belief, as well? Does that sting a little deeper?

You can read the rest of the article, here:
Bill Martin talks Adidas, Part 1 | Jim Carty Archives - MLive.com

I don't think Tennessee would be #1 (or even close to be brutally honest) by switching back to Nike. Tennessee IS considered one of adidias' top programs (along with Michigan and ND), but overall, wouldn't even be in the picture for Nike. You think Nike would give two thoughts to what Tennessee's program?

Plus, I've always liked the triple stripe. I like the soccer heritage and the fact that it hasn't tried too hard to be ultra trendy (which to me equals more quickly outdated)...
 
I don't think Tennessee would be #1 (or even close to be brutally honest) by switching back to Nike. Tennessee IS considered one of adidias' top programs (along with Michigan and ND), but overall, wouldn't even be in the picture for Nike. You think Nike would give two thoughts to what Tennessee's program?

Plus, I've always liked the triple stripe. I like the soccer heritage and the fact that it hasn't tried too hard to be ultra trendy (which to me equals more quickly outdated)...

It's one thing not to be someone's first choice - it's quite another when they institutionalize it in the form of contractual terms.

Given the choice between being one amongst many "second-tier" programs, I'd prefer it be with the undisputable leader in that arena - which is Nike - than a runner-up / never was. I'd rather be in the middle of the pack of the NYC marathon than in the Top 5 of the Knoxville 5K Fun-Run.

Adidas' connections to soccer only further weaken their position in my mind - we live in a nation which not only detests the sport, in general, but takes some enormous delight in stating / showing the fact to be true at every conceivable opportunity.

I don't have a scientifically valid, empirically proven double-blind study within reach at the moment, but the last I checked, 99.99843% of 18-year olds lives revolve around trends, and their being active participants in them. Oddly,these are the same people we're trying to recruit.

My point was never that Tennessee would be the top school of Nike (or of anyone else) - but rather, that we are at the middle of the pack with a middle of the road shoe company - and that this sucks.

I think that there is a reason that Adidas has to give all of these concessions to get a school to sign.......because they likely otherwise would not do so, based on the merit / stature of the relationship, alone.
 
I love UA jerseys. Ive always liked Maryland and AU's uniforms. Addidas does make some crappy fan gear though. Our shirts are always a small variation while I get to see Bama's gear, which ios usually awesome.
 
i like some of addidas fan wear but the fact is that nike is the most popular among recruits; whether we like it or not. there are a lot of power that nike and addidas use behind the scenes that we'll never know about (especially in basketball). it will not suprise me if we went with nike after the the addidas contract is up. I think Kiffin will have some input too.
 
I know here at UW we switched to Nike this year at CDC's request. He thought it would help with recruiting when he was hired.

We had New Balance, which I thought was unique. Apparently it's not "cool" enough for recruits.

yeah and NB doesn't have athletic contracts either. They basically give the teams anything they wants. From personal experience, your not going to find a better fitting and more durable cleat than the NB one.
 
i'd like to see us go with nike,better fan gear,uniforms are better..and i can't believe how much this effects recruits.but if it helps us out in that department,then i'd like to see us go with them.
 
Adidas uniforms just look so heavy and thick. Nike uniforms seem to fit and look great.


UT works with adidas on uniform design. Adidas has been very good for UT---and if some hot-shot recruit wants Nike, he is a ME player and to be avoided anyway. Personally, I like adidas since the majority of ncaa teams are with nike, and the Vols have some identity. PLUS----bammer wears nike----nuff said.
 
I like how Nike is always, year-in and year-out, trying to revolutionize their gear. Just this past year they said that all teams wearing Nike uniforms benefited from the research that led to somehow reducing the weight of the uniform by 25% or something close to that number. I'm sure Adidas does the same, maybe, but you never hear about it. Maybe it's just the Nike limelight but I enjoy that part.

The fan gear is excellent too.

I've never liked Under Armor anything, save their compression shorts. Their cleats are bricks and wear out like cheap crap and everything, including fan gear, is outrageously expensive for some reason.
 
I like how Nike is always, year-in and year-out, trying to revolutionize their gear. Just this past year they said that all teams wearing Nike uniforms benefited from the research that led to somehow reducing the weight of the uniform by 25% or something close to that number. I'm sure Adidas does the same, maybe, but you never hear about it. Maybe it's just the Nike limelight but I enjoy that part.

The fan gear is excellent too.

I've never liked Under Armor anything, save their compression shorts. Their cleats are bricks and wear out like cheap crap and everything, including fan gear, is outrageously expensive for some reason.

Under Armor definately is the priciest choice of the 3 when it comes to fan gear, or any of their products in general really. Quality is still not up to par with many of their products (shoes, shirts, gloves, hats, ect ect), EXCEPT the cold/hot gear and other things along that line-I have always had great results with those...although I will say I had to pay what seemed at the time to be an outrageous price for them.:blink:
 
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