Thought it might make sense to repost this as its own thread since it seems to have gotten lost in the other uni thread. @Richie O, feel free to delete if you think this counts as a dupe.
So here's what I'm hearing. Obviously no way to validate that this is 100% accurate, but it's from someone who is familiar with one of the relevant parties and has worked on these types of deals (though not this one).
Seems as though it was likely that the renewal deal with Adidas was signed or at least agreed to in principle. Keep in mind the original Adidas deal paid RU $13M over 6 and formally ended in 2023. Rumors were that the extension would've been for 2 years which would've ended in 2025 (hmmm...).
Anyways, that original Adidas deal was a good deal to a degree in that the basketball team would be moved up a tier and receive all the benefits of an upper tier program (access to PE shoes, custom uniforms, special edition uniforms, etc.) - even if the total dollar amount was eh.
When Dylan and Ace committed, that deal was a steal for Adidas and they were probably high-fiving around the boardroom. Fast forward and Nike jumps into the fray from the standpoint of getting sneakers on Dylan and Ace's feet. There has been some lobbying to exclude footwear from school apparel deals to allow players to be footwear independent (similar to the NBA). Nike was ok to beg for forgiveness rather than wait for permission or the rule to be formally changed. A friend of mine close to the sneaker companies told me before all this mess that "Nike probably would rather have those kids wearing their sneakers with the Adidas uniforms since that'll draw more eyeballs".
Adidas was obviously not okay with our 2 stars wearing the swoosh and approached the school telling them that allowing the kids to wear Nike would be a breach of contract. Pike and Hobbs were probably stuck in a hard place and sided with their players (which we prob would all do in their position). This put RU in a breach of its contract with Adidas and probably led to some tough conversations that both sides probably didn't want to have.
The remedy was most likely that the renewal deal would be annulled but a move to Nike would not be allowed until the end term of the extension (which was end of June 2025) or even a future date. So...Nike probably couldn't legally sign an apparel deal with RU for some period of time, which would explain why RU ended up signing through BSN. BSN gives RU the option to essentially use any apparel maker as they distribute Nike, Adidas, and UA.
My understanding is that BSN can and will supply the teams with Nike uniforms, but they will most likely be stock templates that are available to a ton of schools (and high schools). We'll be able to provide logos, fonts, and colors but not much else.
So basically, Hobbs went to bat for the frosh but inadvertently burned the whole athletics department. Not sure what could've been done differently TBH. This is the new NIL world we live in.
Again, I have no way to confirm if this is true but it makes a lot of sense?
So here's what I'm hearing. Obviously no way to validate that this is 100% accurate, but it's from someone who is familiar with one of the relevant parties and has worked on these types of deals (though not this one).
Seems as though it was likely that the renewal deal with Adidas was signed or at least agreed to in principle. Keep in mind the original Adidas deal paid RU $13M over 6 and formally ended in 2023. Rumors were that the extension would've been for 2 years which would've ended in 2025 (hmmm...).
Anyways, that original Adidas deal was a good deal to a degree in that the basketball team would be moved up a tier and receive all the benefits of an upper tier program (access to PE shoes, custom uniforms, special edition uniforms, etc.) - even if the total dollar amount was eh.
When Dylan and Ace committed, that deal was a steal for Adidas and they were probably high-fiving around the boardroom. Fast forward and Nike jumps into the fray from the standpoint of getting sneakers on Dylan and Ace's feet. There has been some lobbying to exclude footwear from school apparel deals to allow players to be footwear independent (similar to the NBA). Nike was ok to beg for forgiveness rather than wait for permission or the rule to be formally changed. A friend of mine close to the sneaker companies told me before all this mess that "Nike probably would rather have those kids wearing their sneakers with the Adidas uniforms since that'll draw more eyeballs".
Adidas was obviously not okay with our 2 stars wearing the swoosh and approached the school telling them that allowing the kids to wear Nike would be a breach of contract. Pike and Hobbs were probably stuck in a hard place and sided with their players (which we prob would all do in their position). This put RU in a breach of its contract with Adidas and probably led to some tough conversations that both sides probably didn't want to have.
The remedy was most likely that the renewal deal would be annulled but a move to Nike would not be allowed until the end term of the extension (which was end of June 2025) or even a future date. So...Nike probably couldn't legally sign an apparel deal with RU for some period of time, which would explain why RU ended up signing through BSN. BSN gives RU the option to essentially use any apparel maker as they distribute Nike, Adidas, and UA.
My understanding is that BSN can and will supply the teams with Nike uniforms, but they will most likely be stock templates that are available to a ton of schools (and high schools). We'll be able to provide logos, fonts, and colors but not much else.
So basically, Hobbs went to bat for the frosh but inadvertently burned the whole athletics department. Not sure what could've been done differently TBH. This is the new NIL world we live in.
Again, I have no way to confirm if this is true but it makes a lot of sense?
