Posted by ZA on November 13, 2008
The University of Memphis is consolidating their athletic apparel and equipment providers, and Adidas, Bridestone and Under Armour are getting the boot. Nike is expanding their presence from football and women’s basketball to now cover all 18 Tigers varsity sports. Nike will become the exclusive provider to Memphis in a five-year deal that is valued at more than $11 million dollars.
Nike inks Memphis
Posted in Apparel & Shoes, Endorsement Deals, Nike | Leave a Comment »
Posted by ZA on November 13, 2008
On the heels of the huge exposure that Usain Bolt’s performance at the 2008 Olympics provided for Puma, the athletic apparel company has selected Droga5 to lead their $100 million marketing account. Droga5 is based in New York and will take sole possession of the Puma account with the purpose to “push the envelope”.
Puma is a Germany company that has traditionally been known for producing shoes & apparel for soccer. In recent years Puma has started to expand beyond soccer to offer trendy athletic wear in a variety of sports and branched into the lifestyle category of athleticwear.
Puma soccer video:
Posted in Apparel & Shoes, Sports Brands | 1 Comment »
Posted by ZA on November 11, 2008
Their football team is #2 in the BCS Bowl Standings and only has one large obstacle standing between them and a berth in the National Championship Game in Miami. So naturally the rest of the school’s sports teams decided they better follow the lead of the football team and switch to wearing Under Armour.
Texas Tech University and Under Armour announced a five-year deal where Under Armour will become the “performance footwear and apparel outfitter” for all 17 Red Raider sports teams. The deal expands upon a sponsorship deal the Texas Tech football team signed with Under Armour in 2006, and will begin outfitting the men’s basketball team this season and the rest of the Tech teams in 2009. The exclusive deal was reported to be worth $11 million dollars over those five-years.
No word yet whether Under Armour will continue the tradition of striped warm up pants that have been a hallmark of Knight coached teams since Indiana University.
Posted in Apparel & Shoes, College Basketball, Sponsorship Deals | Leave a Comment »
Posted by ZA on November 5, 2008
Athlete: Lewis Hamilton
Sport: Auto Racing
League: Formula One
Team: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Manager: Anthony Hamilton (Father of Lewis)
Age: 23 (January 7, 1985)
Rank in SI’s 50 richest athletes: 11th (International version)
Endorsement value: Over $20 million per year…and about to go up.
Lewis Hamilton from BBC.com
Lewis Hamilton endorsement deals (thru Nov. 2008):
* Bombardier Jets (non-cash, trade deal)
* Johnny Walker Whisky (Team sponsor)
* Mobil (Team sponsor)
* Reebok
* Santander Bank (Team sponsor)
* Vodaphone (Team sponsor)
Hamilton has just begun on his journey to endorsement riches, and he’s already a major player. The majority of his endorsements are come from car sponsors that pay his racing team, McLaren. But when Hamilton ventured out to sign his first individual endorsement deal, he hit the jackpot. Reebok signed Hamilton to a huge contract and agreed to pay him more than $20 million (US) dollars. He is currently in negotiations with several global brands, including Pepsi and Sony, and will most likely sign six or more deals of that magnitude.
Lewis Hamilton’s endorsement potential:
Lewis Hamilton’s endorsement potential is off the charts. Many are already predicting he could become the highest earning athlete of all-time, and that was before he captured his first Formula One World Championship at the age of 23. He’s a young guy, who is popular with the ladies, and comes from a multi-racial background. Plus he just burst on to the scene in his global sport, Formula One, and has already assumed the top position. Sound like another famous athlete? Yes, he does often get comparisons to Tiger Woods. Woods is predicted to be the first athlete to earn a billion dollars, and Hamilton might just out earn him.
For companies looking to Lewis Hamilton to endorse their product, the only real drawbacks are that he participates in a very dangerous sport. Even with the advancements made in safety, there is a risk at every race that a driver could be seriously injured or killed. That type of risk will give pause to any company looking to give Hamilton tens of millions of dollars. The other issue is Hamilton’s heavy responsible to promote the products of McLaren team sponsors, which could limit the time he spends promoting his personal endorsement deals. Although sponsors shouldn’t get too preoccupied with those drawbacks, as Formula One legend Michael Schumacher had a healthy career until recently retiring at age 37. Brands love finding sports endorsers who have the opportunity to compete at the top of their sport for many, many years. Which Lewis Hamilton is sure to do.
Lewis Hamilton 5-star endorsement rating: 5.0
Posted in Apparel & Shoes, Endorsement Deals, Endorsement Profile, Sponsorship Deals, Sports Brands, Sports Marketing | 3 Comments »
Posted by ZA on November 3, 2008
It appears the days are numbered for Fox’s rights to broadcast college football’s top bowl games. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is asking $800 million dollars for Fox to retain the rights to broadcast the four BCS games; the BCS Championship Game, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl. ABC already holds the broadcast rights for the 5th BCS game, the Rose Bowl.
The BCS is asking Fox to up their annual spend from the current $82 million per year up to $132 million per year. The theory behind that dramatic increase is that doing so will cause Fox to balk, which will then allow the BCS to solicit bids on the open market from other networks. The favorite to win a bidding war on the open market? ABC/ESPN who would then hold the rights to all of the major bowl games, and have the ability to play some on ABC and others on their cable sports juggernaut, ESPN.
The reason the BCS will select ABC/ESPN over Fox? Money. Not only will they be able to bid the two entities against each other to get a richer deal, but ultimately landing with ABC/ESPN increases their exposure. ESPN is a dedicated sports network that will continually run promotions for the BCS series throughout the year on in-game programming and Sportscenter. ABC also already owns the rights to broadcast college games, which Fox does not. The increased exposure for the BCS will add up to much larger sponsorship dollars.
Once that happens I expect the next major change for the BCS to be the announcement of a college football playoff. One that will initially start as a plus one game after the four major bowls are played (Fiesta, Orange, Rose & Sugar), but will eventually expand. The expansion will add the Cotton Bowl, played at Jerry Jone’s new stadium, as the 6th BCS bowl game. The expanded BCS will now be able to seed the top 8 teams entering the bowl season and have them play a winner take all knockout format.
The reason the BCS will morph into a playoff format? Again, money. The thing holding back a playoff format right now is the old guard from the bowl games. They are concerned their games will be made irrelevant by a playoff and still have enough power to stand in the way of that progress. But that old guard won’t always have that much clout and eventually the system will change because a playoff series in college football is what the fans want. And in this case that “want” translates into lots of dollars for the BCS. Higher TV ratings, more tickets sold and bigger sponsorship opportunities are what will ultimately get us a college football playoff.
Posted in College Football, ESPN, Fox, Sponsorship Deals, Sports Marketing, Sports Television, TV Rights Deals | 1 Comment »
