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Marketing and Sponsorship

Adidas' King Touts Direction Of North American Properties, Not Phased By Nike Competition

adidas Group North America President Mark King has only been on the job since April, but he does "not appear phased by the thought of the head-to-head competition" with Nike, according to Allan Brettman of the Portland OREGONIAN. adidas in May reported a decline in its Q1 earnings, "citing slumping revenue at TaylorMade Golf as well as a poor euro exchange rate, among other things." But King said that he is "undaunted." Referring to his athlete endorsers, King said, "We have more assets than we know what to do with. Do the guys across town have more than we do? Sure they do. But we have enough." King was "reluctant Thursday to discuss specific aspects" of adidas' strategy in North America. He said that operations there were "likely to be cut back somewhat in the future." King: "We have so many categories and we do almost everything and we do it broadly and about this deep. I'd like to focus in on a few things and spend more money on a few things rather than less money on a lot of things." King added that adidas "hadn't decided which areas would be de-emphasized but said soccer would not be one of them." King: "It's who we are, it's the soul of the company. It's what drives the economic engine globally." King said that on "top of that, Adidas' success in the just-ended World Cup -- with two of its sponsored teams competing in the final and Germany, from the company's home country, emerging as the winner -- 'has energized the company.'" King said that he will travel to N.Y. soon to "meet with representatives of several other professional sports leagues." A separate meeting is "planned Sept. 5" with the NHL, for which Reebok is the uniform supplier. That contract "extends through" the '17-18 season. adidas last season was "rumored to be planning to replace Reebok as the logo on NHL jerseys." King said that that decision "remains in the air until the company is certain of its direction with the NHL after the current contract expires" (Portland OREGONIAN, 7/18).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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