Nebraska hosts Oregon on Saturday afternoon in the first football game between the schools since '86, but it also is "Team Adidas vs. Team Nike," according to Tom Shatel of the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD. NU is adidas' "longest-running client in college football, a relationship that goes back" to '95. However, it was former NU AD Bill Byrne's goal to have the school in Nike's "stable all this time." Before coming to NU, Byrne had been Oregon AD from '84-92 and "developed a close relationship" with Nike co-Founder & Chair Emeritus Phil Knight. Byrne on Wednesday said, "Nebraska had been with Converse, and then Converse went out of (the college football) business. Nike wanted Nebraska. They made us a great offer. I went to [then-football coach Tom] Osborne and told him that Nike wanted to sign with Nebraska. Instead he signed with Apex. Then Apex went out of the (college football) business. Then Tom signed a contract with Adidas." Osborne said, "I thought going with Adidas would be what was best for the university and football program" (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 9/15). Former Nike exec and adidas consultant Peter Moore on Thursday said, "The reason we wanted Nebraska was because Tom Osborne was the football coach. He'd built a real football program with athletes in a proper way. We felt that really fit what Adidas wanted to be." In Portland, John Canzano notes prior to '95, NU was "all over the place with its apparel and sneaker agreements." Individual coaches of different teams were "allowed to negotiate independently with companies," a practice that "would eventually be phased out." While NIke coveted Nebraska, it was "locked up in a bidding war with Reebok over Michigan" in '95. Moore: "Nike may have talked to Nebraska, but Nike was busy with that Michigan deal. Nebraska wanted to be important. They were important to us" (Portland OREGONIAN, 9/16).
