With Nike set to sign deal with Indiana Fever G Caitlin Clark, the company is hoping her skill and success “can help sell shoes,” and “most importantly give the company a good public relations win at a time when the company is struggling,” according to Weston Blasi of MARKET WATCH. Nike has “been the top dog for a long time.” It has had “many of the top athletes in the sport,” like Basketball HOFer Michael Jordan, Lakers F LeBron James and Suns F Kevin Durant, “under its umbrella for decades now.” But James will turn 40 this year and Durant will turn 36, so “they’re closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.” Lately, some of the brand's younger athletes in the basketball space “haven’t quite had the same impact on the court as James and Durant.” During its fiscal third-quarter earnings in March, Nike “saw cooling demand for shoes and apparel and slipping digital sales.” Nike execs expect sales “to be down by low single digits in the first half of fiscal 2025,” and shares of the sportswear giant are down 25.82% over the last year. In regards to Clark, retail expert Matt Powell said, “Nike is never going to make any of this up in shoe sales. This is all about marketing and being associated with her and sharing in her success.” He added, “There is just tremendous value for Nike to be associated with an ascendant star.” Blasi noted perhaps more than anything else, Nike is “looking for wins during an uncertain time.” The endorsement deal comes as the athletic wear giant announced 740 job cuts at its flagship HQ in Oregon as part of its $2B in “cost-cutting measures over three years” (MARKET WATCH, 4/22).
LACK OF REPRESENTATION: USA TODAY’s Mike Freeman wrote Aces F A’ja Wilson is “one of the greatest stars of our time,” and “any athlete of her caliber should already have a signature shoe.” Wilson's lack of a signature shoe is “getting a fresh look” because Clark is "expected to get a signature shoe in the near future." If she does, Clark “would join only three other WNBA players with signature shoes” -- Liberty F Breanna Stewart, Mystics F Elena Delle Donne and Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu. In a “majority-Black league there are currently no Black players with signature shoes.” There have only been 12 players in the history of the WNBA with their own signature shoe. In the past, “almost every signature shoe from 1995-2011 belonged to a Black woman.” Stardom propels shoe deals, but also, shoe contracts, like a signature shoe, “drive stardom.” Clark “deserves every endorsement she's getting.” However, Wilson “deserves it more, and has for some time.” It is “likely Wilson will get her signature shoe, and maybe soon.” But it “won't change the fact she had to wait this long” (USA TODAY, 4/22).
