adidas Is Dropping Its NBA Apparel Contract

The deal ends in 2017.

Image via adidas

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by Brendan Dunne

adidas is backing down from its bid to extend its NBA apparel contract. The brand's current contract for NBA jerseys and uniforms will run out in 2017.

The Portland Business Journal reports that the brand will instead focus more on individual athletes going forward, and will seek to double the size of its roster of NBA players. By 2020, adidas plans to have 140 NBA players on its roster. The brand is also planning to invest more in high school and college basketball programs.

Aiding in this push will be four new basketball-oriented designers at adidas, who well help the brand tell more stories and "be more disruptive," according to Chris Grancio, adidas' global basketball general manager.

adidas has been the NBA's official apparel partner since 2006, when it signed an 11-year deal with a reported $400 million.

A source close to the process says that adidas made the decision to drop its bid after it was informed that the NBA would be allowing other companies to bid on the contract. The source says that this opening of the bidding process to competitors was tied to adidas' recent hardships in the U.S. market.

Now that adidas is backing away from the NBA uniform endorsement, either Nike or Under Armour are likely to take over the contract starting in 2017.

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