The Golden State Warriors have signed Adidas to a three-year deal as their official retail partner. The deal is tied to Gameday Merchandising’s operation of the team store at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors Team Shop presented by Adidas, the store’s official name, reflects the new partnership, said Chip Bowers, Golden State’s chief marketing officer. Adidas’ deal is valued at six figures annually, Bowers said.
As part of the deal, Adidas brought on Gameday, a retail concessionaire with four NBA accounts, to run the store on game days. Gameday signed a separate three-year deal with the Warriors that mirrors Adidas’ contract, he said.
Gameday also takes over operations of the Warriors’ online merchandise program, which had been run by Dreams.
The Warriors had managed all merchandise in-house in Oakland, but in an effort to raise the profile of their brand, team President Rick Welts turned to Adidas, the NBA’s official retail supplier since 2006. Those discussions resulted in a sponsorship with Adidas. In turn, Adidas requested Gameday to operate the store, Bowers said.
Elsewhere, Gameday runs the team store at US Airways Center in Phoenix, where Welts was Suns president for nine years before the Warriors hired him in September 2011.
“The conversations with Adidas were about creating a tighter bond with our brand,” said Bowers, hired by the Warriors in June from Orlando. “They are a league partner, and I had a great relationship with Adidas when I was with the Magic.”
Developing a greater variety of apparel with the “sharp looks” for which Adidas is recognized was a driver for doing the deal, he said. The sportswear company will produce most of the items available in the team store with the exception of some novelties.
The sponsorship extends to social media platforms that could include Pinterest initiatives to draw the attention of young adults ages 18 to 34, Bowers said.
The Adidas and Gameday deals expire after the 2014-15 season and do not carry over to the proposed arena Golden State hopes to open in 2017 on the San Francisco waterfront.
The Warriors are the second NBA team Adidas has signed a deal with to sponsor a team store. In Brooklyn, the company signed a three-year deal earlier this year to run the Nets Shop by Adidas at Barclays Center, the Nets’ new arena.
