Adidas, Arizona State University Launch Global Sport Alliance
A light rail train passes by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. Photo by Tom Story/ASU
Arizona State University and adidas are partnering on a global scale to help shape the future of sport around sustainability and human potential, among other key areas. The Global Sport Alliance — which is aimed to positively impact society — will combine innovation, education, athletics and research as the two parties engage in the new relationship.
Research combined with the free-flowing exchange of ideas among professors, students, adidas employees, engineers and other thought leaders will be key ingredients of the strategic partnership.
“Few things in life bind people together more than passion for and participation in sport,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement. “adidas and Arizona State University have come together because we have a common commitment to having a real-time, positive impact on the world and we see the power of sport to influence human success. We both seek to empower people, improve health and well-being, and inspire action through teaching, learning and community engagement. ASU, energetically focused on innovation and creative problem-solving, is a ready-made action lab to help extend adidas’ ideas and creative energy.”
Added Crow in a Global Sport Alliance video: “We’ll be able to pursue projects that were previously unimaginable, thinking about how to use sport as a mechanism to advance human success.”
Named the nation’s No. 1 most innovative university by U.S. News & World Report in 2015 and 2016, Arizona State together with adidas will focus, in part, on sustainability and explore the full lifecycle of sport. From where products are made and sold to where sport is played, the Global Sport Alliance will analyze and discuss product supply chain, the creation of sustainable materials and new recycling initiatives, too.
Through the partnership, the Alliance will also examine athletes from a holistic standpoint and consider exploring specialized programs that include nutrition, mindset, movement, recovery and product.
Said adidas North America President Mark King in a statement; “adidas and ASU see the world as a place to be disrupted. When you combine the world-class resources of ASU with the global power of adidas, extraordinary things can happen. We’re coming together to test the boundaries of the universe and make quantum leaps in what our future looks like. We’re looking at the world through the lens of sport and exploring things like diversity, sustainability and human potential. Sport is so much bigger than the game. We believe through sport, we have the power to change lives. adidas and ASU have a shared passion for innovation and creativity, for leading change and finding what’s next. With the Global Sport Alliance, we’re on a quest to explore the unknown. We want the whole world to benefit from what we discover.”
As part of the Alliance, veteran sports business and legal professional Kenneth L. Shropshire will lead the Global Sport Institute (GSI) as its Chief Executive Officer. With that role and his responsibilities as the Distinguished Professor in Global Sports, a position created by adidas, Shropshire will help broaden the messaging and research through reports, podcasts and other communication vehicles.
“The Global Sport Institute will support collaborative inquiry and research that examines critical issues impacting sport and all those connected with sport,” Shropshire said in a statement. “GSI’s purpose will be to transform the resulting findings into practical knowledge that is widely shared, educating and influencing audiences.”
