Kansas reportedly considered other opportunities but decided Adidas made the most senseGETTY IMAGES
Kansas' new 14-year, $196M apparel deal with Adidas comes as the FBI is investigating the relationship between the two, but the company that was going to offer KU the "most, to give them the most, to provide them the most was always going to be Adidas," according to the K.C. Star's Jesse Newell. KU and Adidas are "very comfortable with each other," and KU would have lost some of the clout that comes with being one of the company's flagship schools if they had to start over and find a new apparel provider. Newell noted there are "a lot of people out there that would have said, ‘Hey, KU needs to cut ties with Adidas after these Federal indictments, this FBI probe into college basketball.’” He asked KU AD Jeff Long, “Why don’t you just cut ties with Adidas?” Long and KU Chancellor Douglas Girod had “done their due diligence and looked at their options, considered other opportunities out there and that Adidas made the most sense for them.” Newell said KU has been using language that paints itself as a “’victim’ of Adidas in this whole scandal.” Newell: “They’ve used that as a cover to say, ‘Hey, this was not Kansas at fault, this was Adidas at fault.’ When you use the word ‘victim’ and say you’re victimized by a company and then a couple months later you re-up with them for a 14-year contract, a lot of people are going to be standing there saying, ‘Oh really?’” But this is "big-time college athletics” and KU “needs that cash" ("SportsBeat KC," KANSASCITY.com, 4/25).
NOT PICKING & CHOOSING: In Raleigh, Joe Giglio sat for a Q&A with retiring N.C. State AD Debbie Yow and discussed the school's relationship with Adidas. The school was in "federal court and found to have been defrauded" by former Adidas exec James Gatto despite having a multimillion-dollar apparel with with the company. Yow was asked if there was part of her that felt "uncomfortable that you're in court with this company but still financially supported by them." She replied, "Perhaps I would feel that way if we had the understanding that Nike and Under Armour were pure. Absent that, those are the three choices. So, I don't know how you can just pick one out and say, 'No, we don't want to be with them'" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 4/26).
