Arizona State yesterday signed an eight-year deal with adidas after VP/Athletics Ray Anderson, along with Associate VP & Chief Business Development Officer Greg McElroy, sold adidas "on their vision for ASU's future," according to Jeff Metcalfe of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. That vision "includes an expanding sports lineup starting with men's hockey as a varsity sport" for '15-16 and "facilities upgrades," including a $256M renovation of Sun Devil Stadium. ASU will become adidas' 12th "collegiate licensing partner and its first addition" since '09. adidas Group North America President Mark King said, "We would have done this had we kept Notre Dame and Tennessee. ... First and foremost, it was Arizona State and Ray Anderson and Greg McElroy and the vision they have. Plus the fact it's in the Pac-12, in the Southwest and it's a massive university, so we touch a lot of people. All of those factored into it." Anderson said that adidas will "outfit all ASU teams, although there will be some equipment exceptions for current deals such as the agreement the women's golf team has with Ping" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 12/17). Anderson said that he "wanted his school to be a priority, and Adidas made it known that ASU will indeed be a top priority." With Nike, ASU is "just one of 45 important clients." With adidas, ASU becomes "one of its five most important partners." adidas will "supply uniforms for all ASU varsity sports, which wasn't the case with Nike" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 12/17). In Phoenix, Andrew Joseph notes ASU's switch to adidas is "already bringing some star recognition." It "didn't even take an hour" after ASU's announcement for rapper Snoop Lion to "post a video welcoming the Sun Devils to the Adidas family." The rapper "posted the video on his Twitter page shortly after the press conference ended" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 12/17).
