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| Kevin Durant, photo courtesy of NBA.com |
In a market ruled by Goliaths, a
David has emerged. The athletic apparel company known as Under Armour could be
on the brink of carving out a much larger share of the athletic footwear
market, if the rumor of the lucrative offer sent to Oklahoma City Thunder star
Kevin Durant were to develop into the truth. If this were to emerge as a fact, traditional fans of the National
Basketball Association (NBA) may be stunned to learn that the reigning Most
Valuable Player (MVP) of the league isn’t inking a deal with a typical athletic
footwear giant like Nike or Adidas, but instead choosing to sign with an
underdog in the market; much like himself being casted in the shadow of league-megastar
LeBron James. That shadow, however, is quickly fading as records show that
Kevin Durant’s shoe sales are on pace to pass “King James” very, very soon.
According
to Stock (2014), “Last year U.S. sales of Nike’s Durant line of sneakers rose
fivefold, according to bar-code data collected by Princeton Retail Analysis,
which tracks the sports apparel industry. If Durant posts a similar jump this
year, his shoe sales will surpass those of James” (¶3). Many believe his
success to be driven by leading the league in points for five straight seasons
(Warren, 2014, ¶8). Others feel it is a combination of many factors like his
humble personality, natural-born talent, and his excellence in execution when
he’s in his element on the court.
Unfortunately
for Nike, Durant’s seven-year, $60 million deal is expiring soon. In that time,
Nike has released six versions of specialized “KD” shoes. Under Armour has
relatively recently executed a deal with Golden State Warrior star Stephen
Curry. The partnership has recently released the first edition of “SC” shoes
since the deal was struck last October. Durant can expect the apparel company
to do the same with their partnership if a deal is struck. According to Isola
(2014), this deal could be worth up to $320 million over a 10-year period. To
put that into perspective, LeBron James’ current deal with Nike brings him
around $20 million per year, this would be a cool $12 million more per year. To
rationalize this amount, let’s have a look at the sales of the four top selling
sneakers in the NBA, from 2011-2013.
We
can expect a company like Under Armor to be extremely aware of these trends and
numbers displayed on the graph. According to Rovell (2013), Under Armour’s key
attributes in players they are interested to have on their team are, “young,
underdog, and next” (¶2)and Thunder forward
Kevin Durant. They are also both very humble athletes who always display
sportsmanship when they play the game. They are very well respected as players
and are even more respected as
people.
. These are qualities that describe Warriors guard
Stephen Curry
According
to Rovell (2013), Under Armour’s market share currently sits at 0.35 percent of
the U.S. basketball retail market, according to SportsOneSource. Nike, which
includes the Jordan and Converse brands, owns 92.6 percent of the U.S. retail
market” (¶7). Both Under Armour and Nike can expect to see their numbers
fluctuate accordingly if Durant decides to sign that astronomical contract.
Only time will tell.
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Works
Cited:
Isola,
F. (2014). Kevin durant could sign with under armour for $30 million a year, a
deal that could help push nba mvp to wizards. New York Daily News. Retrieved on
August 19, 2014 from http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/kevin-durant-earn-30m-year-armour-article-1.1891586
Rovell,
D. (2013). Stephen curry joins under armour. ESPN. Retrieved on August 19, 2014
from http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9752857/stephen-curry-golden-state-warriors-signs-armour
Stock,
K. (2014). Durant’s sneaker stats approach lebron’s. Businessweek. Retrieved on
August 19, 2014 from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-07/durants-sneaker-stats-approach-lebrons
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