UCLA to make switch from Reebok to Adidas

Monday, August 31, 1998

Monday, August 31, 1998

UCLA to make switch from Reebok to Adidas

MARKETING: Attention, cash play role in decision to change athletic vendors

By Greg Lewis

Daily Bruin Staff

The Reebok years are over. UCLA and Adidas America have reached an agreement on a multi-year sports marketing partnership that will begin on July 1, 1999.

As part of the deal, Adidas will provide equipment and apparel for UCLA's 21 intercollegiate teams, the UCLA spirit squad and the UCLA Recreation Department, in addition to cash payments. Adidas will, in turn, be the exclusive licensee of Bruin athletic clothing.

Nike and Adidas were actively competing for the UCLA deal, but Adidas finally won out, inking the new six-year agreement for an undisclosed dollar amount. In addition to providing equipment for UCLA Athletics, Adidas will also contribute educational, marketing and promotional support and create several internship opportunities for students.

"This (agreement) is the culmination of many months of internal discussions, planning and analysis," said Pete Dalis, athletic director at UCLA.

"We invited proposals from all qualified and interested parties. In the end, Adidas' response and ancillary marketing and promotional support best met the needs of the university. Reebok has, and will continue to be a wonderful partner, and we are proud to use their product until the new agreement begins."

With the new Adidas agreement, many team uniforms will probably be redesigned, and there will be a especially strong emphasis on increasing sales of UCLA athletic clothing. Adidas will provide all UCLA athletic teams the opportunity to meet with designers to develop each sports' own customized look. Unlike many other manufacturers that provide the same design to every school but just change the color, no other university in the country will have the same look as UCLA.

UCLA Athletics will receive an annual allowance for equipment and apparel and cash payments.

A significant percentage of these payments will help defray costs of the Morgan Center renovation.

Public relations director Travis Gonzalez of Adidas America feels that the reason the Adidas deal was more attractive then the Nike offer was not money, but rather the personal attention that the school would get from Adidas.

"Adidas offered more intangibles then Nike did. The (UCLA) Athletic Department was looking at the whole picture, including individualized attention, not just the dollar amount."

Robert Erb, director of sports marketing for Adidas said, "When a school enters a partnership with Adidas, they know that they aren't one out of 50 or even one out of 25, they are one of only five Adidas all-school partnerships. UCLA is the fifth and final school to sign an apparel contract with Adidas. The other schools are Notre Dame, Tennessee, Nebraska and Northwestern."

Gonzalez went on to say that Adidas will have multiple representative remain full-time on the UCLA campus in order to make sure the needs of all coaches, trainers and athletes are met. These representatives will also work closely with the athletic department and campus representatives to plan events and promotional activities. While there are no events planned for the near future, Gonzalez assured that there will be many Adidas special events to look forward to.