Nike Will Allow Colleges To Use Other Companies' Baseball Bats In '12

Nike is allowing the college baseball teams that use its equipment to use other companies’ bats during the ’12 season. The schools are not being released from their contracts. Nike in a statement said it is not getting out of the bat business and remains committed to its bat technology (Nike). In Alabama, Alex Scarborough reported the move comes after a report in May “revealed a striking difference in the performance of Nike bats as compared to other manufacturers.” None of the top 20 teams in home runs during the ’11 season used Nike bats, and six schools that used Nike bats -- Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami, North Carolina and USC -- all “were well behind the national average.” Their home run output was “20 percent lower and slugging percentages 44 percent lower than the NCAA as a whole.” Nike “no longer sells bats certified for college use on its website” (TUSCALOOSA NEWS, 9/13).