Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Marketing and Sponsorship

Auburn's Under Armour Deal Questioned As Possible Detriment To Basketball Recruiting

Auburn F Allen Payne on Thursday wrote on his Twitter account the men's basketball team "will struggle as long as we are under Under Armour," according to Colin McGowan of SPORTS ON EARTH. McGowan writes, "I’m pretty sure he means Auburn’s association with Under Armour sinks it by making it nigh impossible to recruit top high school talent." The "line of thinking" is that because Nike and adidas "sponsor a slew of the most prominent basketball camps, tournaments and AAU teams, they have a hand in steering the best young players toward programs ... with which their companies are affiliated." UA is "a second-tier basketball brand." It is "not that UA doesn’t sponsor the same sorts of things the bigger companies do, but it doesn’t have the foothold in the marketplace that Nike or Adidas has." UA "probably came to Auburn with an interest in being the chosen brand of Auburn Football, and because these types of deals are athletic department-wide, it also outfits the basketball team." This has had the "unintended consequence of dooming the basketball program, which wasn’t particularly good in the first place" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 3/14). Basketball HOFer Charles Barkley said that he wanted Auburn "to change its apparel affiliation for basketball" from UA to Nike. Former Auburn coach Tony Barbee, prior to being fired by the school on Wednesday, said, "The only problem I have with the Auburn program right now is we're not a Nike school. I've had some conversations with [AD Jay Jacobs], I think we need to separate from the football program and go with Nike. ... I would love to see Auburn switch to Nike on the basketball side of it." In Alabama, James Crepea notes the shoe and apparel deal has been "a major bone of contention for many within the basketball program privately" (MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER, 3/14).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/03/14/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Auburn-UA.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/03/14/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Auburn-UA.aspx

CLOSE