A few months ago, the NBA and Adidas announced their uniform and apparel deal would not be renewed when it expires at the end of the 2016-17 season. Instead, the NBA has decided to depart from Adidas, not negotiate a deal with Under Armour but instead go back to old faithful, Nike.
The sports apparel juggernaut will be able to make new jerseys for the NBA which will include their iconic ‘swoosh’ logo on the jerseys and be the official apparel provider for the league. The ‘swoosh’ logo will be the first logo on the new era of NBA jerseys. For fans of some more classic NBA jerseys, this is quite the exciting announcement.
Following from an official NBA press release.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) and NIKE, Inc. (NIKE) announced today an eight-year global merchandising and marketing partnership that will make NIKE the official oncourt apparel provider beginning with the 2017-18 NBA season.
“This partnership with NIKE represents a new paradigm in the structure of our global merchandising business,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “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.”
“We’re excited to bring the full power of our global reach, innovation and creativity to partner with the NBA and grow the game in a way only NIKE can,” said NIKE, Inc. President & CEO Mark Parker. “In NIKE, Jordan and Converse we have three of the most connected brands in the world, and look forward to making the global growth of the game a successful strategy for both the NBA and NIKE.”
While some of the most recent Adidas uniforms and apparel have been looking great, such as the All-Star uniforms, overall history of the uniforms have not been great. The deal to join with Nike also brings Nike’s great designs and if you’ve noticed anything the NFL has recently been doing with their uniforms, you should be very excited for this.
The press release also states,
NIKE has a rich history of innovating and leading from the front, and has supported some of the greatest former and current NBA and WNBA players. The company has been a global marketing partner of the NBA since 1992 and expands its rights over eight years under the new agreement, where NIKE will become the first NBA apparel partner to have its logo appear on NBA uniforms. NIKE will also have the global rights to design and manufacture authentic and Swingman jerseys as well as oncourt warm-ups and shooting shirts.
In addition, the partnership will activate around several NBA events such as NBA All-Star, NBA Global Games, NBA Draft presented by State Farm, Samsung NBA Summer League and NBA 3X. NIKE will remain the official partner and apparel provider of Basketball without Borders
Nike and its ‘Jordan Brand’ dominate the NBA and several of the game’s best players have deals with both the Nike and Jordan Brand like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony Davis, Paul Millsap, Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony, Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Chris Bosh, Jimmy Butler, Jabari Parker, Marc and Pau Gasol and Paul George.
