Marketplace Roundup
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Bevilaqua Endorsing Nfinity's
New Basketball Shoe |
In Atlanta, David Markiewicz reports Atlanta-based Nfinity in August "rolls out its first shoes for women basketball and volleyball players, both with its trademark BioniQ technology, which the company says uniquely addresses the differences of a woman's anatomy." The venture "could boost the company's current annual revenues" from about $5M to what Nfinity Owner Tate Chalk said could be $50M "in the next four or five years." The BioniQ design "garnered Nfinity a nomination as a finalist for the 2009 Business Innovation of the Year award, to be given out next Monday as part of the American Business Awards" in N.Y. Meanwhile, Markiewicz notes Nfinity "isn't talking about becoming the next Nike, but it is making inroads into women's basketball in a traditional way," signing WNBA Fever G Tully Bevilaqua and Mystics G Nikki Blue to endorsement contracts (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/16).
FLEET FEET: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's David Biderman reports Yankees P Chien-Ming Wang "recently helped design his own shoe," which will have "baseball-like stitches and Mr. Wang's jersey number, 40, on the inner-tongue." The shoe "should be released in Taiwan -- where he was born -- in early July" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/16).
CHECK IT OUT: In Sacramento, Bill Paterson reported Nike is "seriously interested" in putting together a three-day, eight-game high school football festival in Sacramento that could include teams from California, Hawaii and Texas. The games "would be scheduled for the first week in September." Sacramento-based Grant High School football coach Mike Alberghini said that the event is "something Nike officials would like to turn into an annual event locally" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 6/15).
LIGHTNING STRIKE: The GLOBE & MAIL's Jennifer Wells reported Gatorade created two 15-second spots to "run just prior and immediately after" Jamaica sprinter Usain Bolt's 100-meter race last Thursday at Toronto's Festival of Excellence. The two "black-and-white commercials capture history-in-the-making moments." A 9.69-second news clip of late President John F. Kennedy saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you," is accompanied by the tag line, "Few men make history in 9.69 seconds." The time represents Bolt's world-record 100-meter time from the Beijing Games (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/12).
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