Under Armour seeking to terminate record-breaking $280-million apparel deal with UCLA

[RaleighPittFan]

It will be interesting to see if this is an isolated case, or if apparel companies will be seeking reduced payouts for a lot of schools.

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcspor...-under-armour-terminate-record-breaking-deal/

 

[HailToPitt725]

There very well may be a few more of these since Nike has also been bleeding money recently.

 

[Alan Partridge]

Under Armour will be a business study one day on how to cheapen one’s own brand.

 

[HailToPitt725]

Under Armour will be a business study one day on how to cheapen one’s own brand.

No kidding. For a moment they had three of sport’s biggest stars in Cam Newton, Stephen Curry, and Jordan Speith. I don’t follow them closely so I have no idea what happened in the last five years.

 

[Parkview57]

UCLA seems to believe there is no right to terminate unilaterally, do I understand this correctly?

 

[Alan Partridge]

No kidding. For a moment they had three of sport’s biggest stars in Cam Newton, Stephen Curry, and Jordan Speith. I don’t follow them closely so I have no idea what happened in the last five years.

A few years back they were tending down in US sales after years of hyper growth. When retro was big and the old school Adidas and Nike sneakers got big again the market went from performance wear to athleisure street wear which being a new company UA had nothing to offer.

The cataclysmic event for them was the Sports Authority bankruptcy, they were left with a ton of inventory which they made an exclusive deal with Kohl’s to sell it discounted. That move alone took a lot of shine off the brand. What they failed to take into consideration was they had just screwed over Dicks who had a lot of their inventory as well and was no longer able to sell at the premium market. Dicks going forward never gave them the premium retail floor space for their newer and more high end stuff so the decline became a free fall.

They also tried to get into the women’s workout segment (Giselle Brady even got an endorsement) but Lululemon wiped the floor with them. They probably should have sold out to Lululemon who could have used the UA brand for a men’s line. Instead they crazily tried to spend their way out of it with big endorsement deals like the UCLA one and Notre Dame.

 

[HailToPitt725]

A few years back they were tending down in US sales after years of hyper growth. When retro was big and the old school Adidas and Nike sneakers got big again the market went from performance wear to athleisure street wear which being a new company UA had nothing to offer.

The cataclysmic event for them was the Sports Authority bankruptcy, they were left with a ton of inventory which they made an exclusive deal with Kohl’s to sell it discounted. That move alone took a lot of shine off the brand. What they failed to take into consideration was they had just screwed over Dicks who had a lot of their inventory as well and was no longer able to sell at the premium market. Dicks going forward never gave them the premium retail floor space for their newer and more high end stuff so the decline became a free fall.

They also tried to get into the women’s workout segment (Giselle Brady even got an endorsement) but Lululemon wiped the floor with them. They probably should have sold out to Lululemon who could have used the UA brand for a men’s line. Instead they crazily tried to spend their way out of it with big endorsement deals like the UCLA one and Notre Dame.

Wow, that’s fascinating. Sounds like they really botched it.

 

[cease10]

Seems to me that UA is pretty much trying to use the pandemic as an excuse to get out of a bad deal of they're own doing.

They gave a record breaking deal to a traditional basketball only school. And that school hadn't even been very good in basketball for a while. UCLA doesn't seem to have that big of a football fanbase to have made that deal worthwhile.

 

[cease10]

A few years back they were tending down in US sales after years of hyper growth. When retro was big and the old school Adidas and Nike sneakers got big again the market went from performance wear to athleisure street wear which being a new company UA had nothing to offer.

I've never seen an UA shoe that I've liked. They've pretty much wasted the popularity of Steph Curry and having him in their camp. They just keep giving him ugly shoes, year after year.

To be honest though, Nike is currently wasting Lebron's popularity also cause it's been years since I've seen an LBJ shoe that I liked.

The retro styles are definitely better than the ugly crap that these companies are designing today.

 

[Saboteur]

A few years back they were tending down in US sales after years of hyper growth. When retro was big and the old school Adidas and Nike sneakers got big again the market went from performance wear to athleisure street wear which being a new company UA had nothing to offer.

The cataclysmic event for them was the Sports Authority bankruptcy, they were left with a ton of inventory which they made an exclusive deal with Kohl’s to sell it discounted. That move alone took a lot of shine off the brand. What they failed to take into consideration was they had just screwed over Dicks who had a lot of their inventory as well and was no longer able to sell at the premium market. Dicks going forward never gave them the premium retail floor space for their newer and more high end stuff so the decline became a free fall.

They also tried to get into the women’s workout segment (Giselle Brady even got an endorsement) but Lululemon wiped the floor with them. They probably should have sold out to Lululemon who could have used the UA brand for a men’s line. Instead they crazily tried to spend their way out of it with big endorsement deals like the UCLA one and Notre Dame.

That's a great analysis. I'm not in the business, but I gather from bits and pieces I've heard that it's a cut throat business.

 

[thebadby2]

Under Armour will be a business study one day on how to cheapen one’s own brand.

LMAO. So true.

Maryland and UCLA. They sure know how to pick ‘em.....

 

[pitt-girl]

A few years back they were tending down in US sales after years of hyper growth. When retro was big and the old school Adidas and Nike sneakers got big again the market went from performance wear to athleisure street wear which being a new company UA had nothing to offer.

The cataclysmic event for them was the Sports Authority bankruptcy, they were left with a ton of inventory which they made an exclusive deal with Kohl’s to sell it discounted. That move alone took a lot of shine off the brand. What they failed to take into consideration was they had just screwed over Dicks who had a lot of their inventory as well and was no longer able to sell at the premium market. Dicks going forward never gave them the premium retail floor space for their newer and more high end stuff so the decline became a free fall.

They also tried to get into the women’s workout segment (Giselle Brady even got an endorsement) but Lululemon wiped the floor with them. They probably should have sold out to Lululemon who could have used the UA brand for a men’s line. Instead they crazily tried to spend their way out of it with big endorsement deals like the UCLA one and Notre Dame.

LOL - looking at my son wearing a ND UA shirt.

Totally agree about Lululemon. Lots of profitable "athleisure" purveyors now. I usually opt for cheaper workout options since I'm often at the gym and constantly laundering, but even I have to admit they have some nice clothes. I also think that it's tapped a market of people who don't even workout. Quite brilliant actually.

 

[Ski11585]

No kidding. For a moment they had three of sport’s biggest stars in Cam Newton, Stephen Curry, and Jordan Speith. I don’t follow them closely so I have no idea what happened in the last five years.

Ethan Strauss has done a lot of reporting on this I think.

I've never seen an UA shoe that I've liked. They've pretty much wasted the popularity of Steph Curry and having him in their camp. They just keep giving him ugly shoes, year after year.

To be honest though, Nike is currently wasting Lebron's popularity also cause it's been years since I've seen an LBJ shoe that I liked.

The retro styles are definitely better than the ugly crap that these companies are designing today.

The Curry shoes apparently are trying to appeal to 50 year old white dads only.

 

[pittiswhereiamfrom2]

Seems to me that UA is pretty much trying to use the pandemic as an excuse to get out of a bad deal of they're own doing.

They gave a record breaking deal to a traditional basketball only school. And that school hadn't even been very good in basketball for a while. UCLA doesn't seem to have that big of a football fanbase to have made that deal worthwhile.

The pandemic will be used as an excuse for an amazing amount of things.

 

[Big Marty1]

We support UA. We also can support Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc. It's about $$$. No villians on either side here. It didn't work. Hopefully you can find a partner. I bet both do in the marketplace.

 

[ThePanthers]

They are pushing to get out of the cal deal now too.