Adidas Group North America President Mark King said that the company’s U.S. arm "has the go-ahead to sign" as many as 250 players from both the NFL and MLB over the next three years, "up from a total of fewer than 40 now," according to Sara Germano of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. This announcement comes as adidas "tries to gain traction in the American market" after falling into third place in the U.S. behind Under Armour and dropping "even farther behind market leader" Nike. Adidas execs "have been slow to deviate" from the company's "soccer-first strategy until just recently." The company in October "signed a deal with the NFL that will allow the players it endorses to sport the company’s three-stripe logos on the equipment they wear on the field." King said, "I know we’re a soccer brand globally, but in the U.S. we have to be about U.S. sport. We can still be No. 1 in soccer, but that can’t be what drives our business." Current adidas-sponsored players include MLB Philadelphia Phillies' Chase Utley, MLB San Diego Padres' Justin Upton, MLB Atlanta Braves' B.J. Upton, NFL Dallas Cowboys' DeMarco Murray and NFL Washington Redskins' Robert Griffin III (WSJ, 1/13).
PARTY IN THE USA: Adidas is moving its design HQs from Germany to the U.S., and King said the move is being made in order to make the company "more relevant in the U.S." King, appearing on Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, said, "We’re finding it very hard to be miles and miles away across an ocean and say we can relate to high school kids. The core of the market is high school kids, so I think we’ve got to be here to be relevant.” King said the company “needs to focus on the United States consumer and athlete," so it needs to "be here local, which is what we’re doing." King said part of Under Armour’s success “is that they’re here in the United States, and 90 percent of their efforts are focused on the U.S." King: "We need more relevance with U.S. athletes, we need more relevance with design, we need more relevance with the messaging” (“Bloomberg Surveillance,” Bloomberg TV, 1/13).
