Under Armour Hopes High School Event Helps Gain Hoops Foothold
Under Armour (UA) will sponsor Sunday's Capital Classic All-Star high school basketball games at the Comcast Center, and the company is using the event as the "jumping-off point for [its] plan to gain a foothold in a basketball shoe business that brings in an estimated" $4B annually, according to Josh Barr of the WASHINGTON POST. UA in March signed on as the event's title sponsor hoping to "breathe new life into what used to be one of the nation's premier scholastic sporting events." UA Senior VP/Brand Marketing Steve Battista: "Everything is on the table as far as the sport of basketball is concerned. And we're looking at every opportunity, both product and marketing or sponsorship, from youth up through professional." UA, starting with the '08-09 school, year has agreements to sponsor "five prominent high school basketball teams." The company also will sponsor camps run by DC-area high school coaches, and although it has "yet to make a move into the controversial practice of sponsoring youth travel teams, there is talk that such a move is in the works." Barr notes that before long UA, as part of the sponsorships, "plans to provide shoes as well." Battista said that the company in the past year has "tripled the size of its footwear creation team," and has hired employees from adidas and And1 (WASHINGTON POST, 4/11).
|
Related Stories By Company
|
Related Stories By Sport
|
Texas Tech Inks All-Sports Deal With UA
November 10, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
UA To Sponsor NFL Scouting Combine
October 22, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Beasley Signs Shoe Deal With Adidas
September 25, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Under Armour Inks Devin Hester To Deal
July 16, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Under Armour Becoming Major Player
July 2, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
|
Nike To Outfit Univ. Of Memphis Teams
November 13, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Sponsors Prep For N.Y. Marathon
October 31, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
Nike, ESPN Eyeing High School Hoops Tourney
October 1, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
CBC SportsPlus Get OK To Launch In '09
August 21, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
CBC Channel Bid Under Attack By Rivals
June 27, 2008 :
SportsBusiness Daily
|
|
