Cavaliers G Derrick Rose last week stepped away from the team to re-evaluate his future, and he could “potentially be leaving" more than $80M of Adidas endorsement money on the table “should he decide to retire outright,” according to Nick DePaula of ESPN.com. Rose “still has seven seasons left” on the 13-year, $185M Adidas extension he signed in ‘12. A source said Adidas is "absolutely" protected in the event Rose retires. If Rose “files retirement paperwork with the league, the terms of any remaining years on the Adidas deal will not be paid out.” Even though Rose's star power has “faded in recent years, Adidas has been contractually obligated to continue producing and marketing a DRose signature sneaker each year.” Rose had been “wearing the DRose 8 model this season” (ESPN.com, 11/24).
LOSING TREAD?: BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Kyle Stock wrote Nike in the 50 years since its founding had become "both commercial behemoth and cultural phenomenon, catering to the feet of athletes and couch potatoes alike.” But by last year, the “tide of the long battle had turned.” Adidas was “once again ascendant via two sneakers originally designed” in the ‘60s: the Stan Smith and the Superstar. They “outsold every other kick in America and sent Adidas's share of the U.S. footwear market skyward” by 83%. Nike Chair, President & CEO Mark Parker in September ’16 “started laying the groundwork” as the brand looked for a “surefire hit” of its own. He told analysts and investors that, like Adidas, Nike would “look to past successes to win today's market” and announced The Cortez “would be making a comeback.” A few months later, Nike “expanded the Cortez campaign, hiring Kendrick Lamar to be its pitchman, a partnership the musician blasted on social media with a plug for the old/new shoe.” However, NPD analyst Matt Powell said Cortez sales this year have been "very minor," even with the media blitz. Powell: "No retailer is talking to me about this shoe" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/24).
