The Univ. of North Dakota yesterday signed its "first-ever department-wide apparel deal" with Adidas, which will run for "seven years from next season" through '24-25. In North Dakota, Tom Miller notes UND previously "allowed individual programs to make deals on their own to purchase gear." The contract calls for UND to receive $1.345M from Adidas in "free product over the seven-year span." The UND men's hockey program has a "one-year exception in that the team's deal with Reebok/CCM has one year remaining" (GRAND FORKS HERALD, 11/21).
PROBLEM SOLVING: Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said that the company -- a long-standing sponsor of FIFA -- "'would have a problem' with the global soccer body if it was found to have broken the law by a U.S. investigation into bribery." Rorsted: "We expect from our partners that they abide by the laws. If a partner is convicted we have a problem with that. We then have to solve that." Adidas' current contract with FIFA runs until '30 (REUTERS, 11/19).
MAKING A CASE: The INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS JOURNAL reported a group representing the unsecured creditors of HHGregg has "filed suit against Andretti Autosport in an attempt to claw back" nearly $1.5M in sponsorship money the "now-defunct retailer paid the racing team in the months leading up to its bankruptcy." Andretti Autosport "entered into a pair of sponsorship agreements with HHGregg" in early '16. The second agreement "called for HHGregg to sponsor driver Marco Andretti’s car" in the '17 and '18 IndyCar Series at a cost of $2.75M annually (IBJ.com, 11/20).
