Adidas deal to be finalized today per Chris Low

To be clear again, I said it’s a low likelihood it has a negative effect. Nike courts at most, 16 or so kids a year. So only for those kids is there a possibility of it mattering.

I will say I think the Flagg example is irrelevant though because he signed a $40m deal with New Balance at 17 years old. There are no New Balance schools. In fact, I don’t even think they have a basketball shoe. Maybe they do? Point is, if he had signed with Nike, I guarantee you he would have went to a Nike school.

New Balance does sell basketball shoes. They've made a pretty significant investment starting with Kawhi Leonard. I believe you are correct that they don't have any apparel deals with schools, at least not any big ones.

Correction: Boston College has a deal with New Balance
 
I don't think Nike wanted to sign us. They likely knew Adidas would make an NIL inclusive offer if we got past the March "exclusive extension period" and they bailed.

The Knox Sentinel wrote that they never even tried to counter the Adidas offer after we received it. There was nothing for UT to do except sign with Adidas. Like it or not, when there's only one viable offer on the table, that's the offer you take.

Nike didn't want to get tied to college NIL deals.

Adidas is willing to offer UT athletes NIL deals as part of the apparel deal.

UT wanted the NIL money as part of the deal. Nike said no. Adidas said yes. End of story.
They wanted to sign us. We are still beneficial to their business. Just wasn’t worth the time after the Adidas stuff got leaked.
 
If this is such a prevalent issue, then I’m sure there is some sort of article in the NIL era stating how Nike schools have won football recruiting battles over Adidas schools simply because of the apparel brand. I’m feeling lazy, mind pulling up one for me?
Pre NIL (money still exchanged hands though…) but AJ Brown didn’t want stay home at Mississippi State due to adidas.

Eagles WR AJ Brown got death threats for picking Ole Miss football over Mississippi State
 
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They wanted to sign us. We are still beneficial to their business. Just wasn’t worth the time after the Adidas stuff got leaked.
They had to know the Adidas offer wouldn't stay locked up. It's VERY VERY much to Adidas' advantage for it to "leak," obviously. These are both sweatshop businesses. Ethics isn't even in the building in the industry.

Nike had to know after the March exclusive negotiating period was over, they were going to have to up the offer significantly or walk because Adidas would see to it that their offer was "speculated upon" in the press.

I'm not convinced Nike tried very hard at all to keep UT in their roster.
 
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They had to know the Adidas offer wouldn't stay locked up. It's VERY VERY much to Adidas' advantage for it to "leak," obviously. These are both sweatshop businesses. Ethics isn't even in the building in the industry.

Nike had to know after the March exclusive negotiating period was over, they were going to have to up the offer significantly or walk because Adidas would see to it that their offer was "speculated upon" in the press.

I'm not convinced Nike tried very hard at all to keep UT in their roster.
Either way, we make Nike money.
 
Agree this is meaningless for football

For basketball, there is a non-zero chance this has an impact. The Nike mafia in the basketball recruiting scene is real. So an elite recruit stuck in that sphere of influence might get pushed away from an Adidas school. But again, it’s a low chance of happening.

The part where this actually sucks is the fan apparel side. At least, that’s my personal opinion.
I think coaches today would tell you that Adidas has a better grasp on grassroots basketball than Nike does. Nike has largely exited the space in the last four or five years, specially compared to what they spent on it and their involvement a decade ago.
 
They had to know the Adidas offer wouldn't stay locked up. It's VERY VERY much to Adidas' advantage for it to "leak," obviously. These are both sweatshop businesses. Ethics isn't even in the building in the industry.

Nike had to know after the March exclusive negotiating period was over, they were going to have to up the offer significantly or walk because Adidas would see to it that their offer was "speculated upon" in the press.

I'm not convinced Nike tried very hard at all to keep UT in their roster.
I’ve heard from friends in the industry that Nike has never re-signed a team after the exclusive negotiating period expired. If you don’t take their offer then, they’ve moved on. Ole Miss had to come crawling back to them a few years ago when they were on the verge of a deal with Under Armour right before that brand collapsed, as did their potential deal. They ended up buying stuff from Nike for a couple of years before getting a contract back.
 
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I’ve heard from friends in the industry that Nike has never re-signed a team after the exclusive negotiating period expired. If you don’t take their offer then, they’ve moved on. Ole Miss had to come crawling back to them a few years ago when they were on the verge of a deal with Under Armour right before that brand collapsed, as did their potential deal. They ended up buying stuff from Nike for a couple of years before getting a contract back.
Thanks for your input. I know you have a lot of info about college contracts and how the negotiations work.

Nike has to know that post exclusive negotiating isn't in their favor because they lose the advantage of keeping things quiet.

If I may ask, if you've looked at it, your thoughts on the Adidas deal UT did get? Good, bad as an apparel contract, not as a "OMG, Adidas sucks vs Nike" issue. Thanks.
 
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I just don't understand how some fans are against this, after learning the details. We really didn't even have a choice, and this could have worked out a lot worse.
Adidas is trash. Looks like crap. I'm glad for the money, but the product is garbage.
 
I generally buy my fan gear from Vol Traditions so I can't really speak to the quality of Nike vs Adidas in that respect. I do have confidence in the administration to not allow Adidas to make subpar unis in look or quality. I do think Adidas should use the old flower logo vs the current triangle one though.
 
Thanks for your input. I know you have a lot of info about college contracts and how the negotiations work.

Nike has to know that post exclusive negotiating isn't in their favor because they lose the advantage of keeping things quiet.

If I may ask, if you've looked at it, your thoughts on the Adidas deal UT did get? Good, bad as an apparel contract, not as a "OMG, Adidas sucks vs Nike" issue. Thanks.
Nike was never going to match the number that Adidas was going to offer, so once the exclusive period expired, it was only a matter of time. If Nike had been willing to put Tennessee in its top 10 contracts, it still would have been less money than they ultimately got, but they would have re-signed.

Adidas is a lot more money and they’re investing in NIL. They’re also heavily invested in grassroots basketball and 7on7 football, which will help the pipeline of NIL to recruiting. That’s going to be important in future years. The NIL Influencer deals they are offering all athletes will help with recruiting and retaining athletes in the sports beyond football and men’s/women’s basketball that aren’t receiving revenue share money.
 
Its common sense. If two schools are offering the same money and opportunity then things like uniform swag will make the difference. If you don't know that most athletes prefer Nike to Adidas then you must be living under a rock. We will lose recruits because of this.
Is Dobbs still going to the Hall of Fame? Your takes are just ridiculous. This one is no different bud.
 
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Adidas is trash. Looks like crap. I'm glad for the money, but the product is garbage.
I expect they have have a very good product, especially with Tennessee have the ability to essentially, be in the drivers seat for all products, If they are not up to par, the reason falls on Tennessee.
 
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Apparently the Adidas deal is the highest for any SEC school at 20 Million a year. Texas is number two at 16 Million.

Its all relative to which brand you are with and when you sign it. The Texas deal was signed in 2015 and expires in 2030. Nike may not match what Adidas gave us but the gap will narrow to be insignificant.

There's a lot of deals about to be reset in the next 5 years. the Adidas-UT deal is pretty significant in my view because its a market reset kind of deal. I'd imagine Adidas-UT will still likely be a top 5 deal, but the gap will close because others will demand more.

I mean frankly sticking with Adidas schools, if I'm Texas A&M I'm picking up the phone with my Adidas rep today given the alumni base and Texas market. But Trev Alberts is an idiot so probably not.
 
Most athletes DO want sweet NIL deals which Adidas will provide and Nike won't.

They can balance the logo on the jersey vs the money in their wallet.

Nike wouldn't offer NIL money to help us recruit talent. Adidas did.

When UT is recruiting and kids see a national brand like Adidas is offering an NIL with real ads and real exposure and real money, we'll see how "Nike devoted" they are in their decisions.

"Hey, have you heard? Adidas be having an ad with UT players on the ESPN broadcast. National games, those mofos are flexing on national TV, bro."

We'll see about their devotion to Nike.

Until Nike does the same thing at a competing school and we're screwed.

Being the top dog at a inferior brand still puts you behind the top dogs at the premiere brand. Nike is better than Adidas. So no matter what we'll always be second class.
 
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