Photo Credit: Nike/NBA
Nike Controls Uniforms And Gear For Every Team In Every Game
After wearing Adidas jerseys for the past eleven years, Nike took over at the beginning of last season. Nike and the NBA agreed to an eight-year partnership, worth around $1 billion, which is a 245% annual increase from the previous deal with Adidas.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said:
“This partnership with Nike represents a new paradigm in the structure of our global merchandising business. As our exclusive oncourt apparel provider, Nike will be instrumental in our collective efforts to grow the game globally while applying the latest in technology to the design of our uniforms and oncourt products.”
But since Nike is paying a lot more money, they’ve demanded more rights, compared to the NBA’s deal with Adidas. According to the Boston Herald, who talked to Boston Celtics equipment coordinator John Connor, Nike controls uniforms and gear for every team in every game.
“The league gives us a master schedule. We put it on the wall and we just give out what’s on the wall. We get the schedule and what we’re supposed to wear from the league, and it’s for the whole year.”
“They changed the tight colors, too. Nike will call out, like, they want green tights with the green uniforms or white tights with green uniforms, black tights on white. They actually script for like 50 percent of the games what everything has to be. It’s a lot more restrictive.”
“I used to travel with 15 bags, and now we’re easily up to 25 or 30 now. That includes basketballs and practice gear and all that stuff. But it’s at least seven or eight more bags just for uniforms now.”
