stephenrjking

January 31st, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^

Disagree. In my experience, the "pricier" Adidas stuff is still a far lower quality than the equivalent Nike product. This has contributed to me reducing the amount of apparel that I buy.
And a lot of the replica stuff they produce is a joke. The Hockey jerseys are embarrassing, and the basketball unis are pitiful.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

APBlue

January 31st, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^

Yeah, I can't comment on the replica jerzees, etc. I'm not into that stuff, so I've never shopped for them (or compared their quality). I was only commenting on the retail apparel in general. In that regard, I think the differences are negligible and not worth all of the hullabaloo on this here blog.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 22020

MGoCombs

January 31st, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^

I mostly agree, but I totally get why people care about fan apparel because why wouldn't you? Some people like to wear a lot of Michigan stuff, and in particular favor official gear. I'm not really a fan of Nike's official gear for most schools either, but it's certainly better than Adidas. When you're spending anywhere from 20-100 or more dollars on each item of official team apparel, I can understand why you would have a preference.

Joined: 08/13/2009

MGoPoints: 3849

thisisme08

January 31st, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^

When Michigan, as the #1 flagship school, has to resort to wearing last years jerseys because the new model is shit and rips/tears at the slightest use. Yet Adidas refuses to fix the issue and rush order/prodcue another batch of jerseys in time for the current season then I think that speaks volumes about the company and their inability to react to the marketplace.

Maybe they should spend less time designing jerseys with sleeves/zubaz stripes on them and bit more on R&D. 

 

Joined: 12/02/2008

MGoPoints: 3116

MgoBlueprint

January 31st, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

I've wondered the same thing. Following the Fab Five's freshman season merchandise sales jumped from around $2 million to $10 million (around $15M today). I believe our current gives us around 8M annually, and only half of that is cash.
I have not bought one piece of Michigan apparel made by Adidas. All of my michigan jerseys and apparel are nike.

Joined: 12/15/2008

MGoPoints: 11516

Eastside Maize

January 31st, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^

These don't have the deal we have. With schools leaving Adidas they will make every effort to keep us when our deal ends. Nike won't give us a deal like Adidas. I fear we are stuck with Adidas.

Joined: 06/09/2013

MGoPoints: 48298

stephenrjking

January 31st, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^

Following Tennessee's win, Adidas' record in college football has been disastrous. They managed to win contracts to a number of perennial powers; all of them suffered through uncharacteristic periods of extended mediocrity.
Those teams include, but are not limited to: UCLA, Nebraska, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Michigan.
End the reign of error.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143524

MGolem

January 31st, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

Obviously no one can make the argument of causation but it is extremely odd that no Adidas sponsored team has won a BCS championship since Tennessee in the inaugural go round in 1998. I hate to acknowledge a fear of curses but damn we have bottomed out since going from swoosh to stripes.

Joined: 10/14/2010

MGoPoints: 13583

jmblue

January 31st, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^

I don't really care who makes our jerseys, but I wish the NCAA would make them take their logos off the front of the jerseys.  It looks especially bad in basketball.  If the NBA and NFL don't allow the swoosh, three stripes, etc., on the front of their jerseys, why is it acceptable for the NCAA and its "amateur" competition?

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102750

cbs650

January 31st, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^

The NBA and NFL logos are what sell the sports in the pro game. In collegiate athletics, sponsors and shoe companies are what sell the sport. They pay big bucks to have their name plastered all over. And also in the NBA or NFL, although they may license Nike or Champion or other companies to sell official gear, teams have more control on who design/manufactures their uniforms. Old Navy at point was the designer/manufacturer of the Pacer unis.

Joined: 02/07/2011

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jmblue

January 31st, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^

I don't agree.  We don't speak of "Michigan football brought to you by Adidas" or anything like that.  What does Adidas do to "sell" our sports teams?  

You can make a case that the individual conferences sell their schools' sports more than the NCAA does, but I wouldn't say that about the shoe companies.  It just seems to be an oversight on the part of the NCAA to allow the logos front and center.  

 

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102750

cbs650

January 31st, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^

you are right in saying that you don't see UM athletics brought to you by Addias. But you do have Addias and Nike and the like paying hefty sums money to schools basically for advertising. That's why their logos are front and center. That is not necessarily the case in the NBA or NFL.

Joined: 02/07/2011

MGoPoints: 4809

jsquigg

January 31st, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^

I know I'm in the minority (at least the vocal minority), but I like Adidas.  Nike is definitely a bigger brand, but I have always preferred the three stripes and what my son refers to as the Adidas "flower."  With that said, I don't own any M Adidas gear, just non-team Adidas gear.

Joined: 09/06/2009

MGoPoints: 9621

UMxWolverines

January 31st, 2014 at 3:53 PM ^

Some of you need to stop thinking that if we went back to Nike we'd be ''forced to wear UNIFORMZ'' all the time! Every single uniform outside of the norm has to be approved by the AD first. The only alternate uniform Alabama has ever worn was when they had houndstooth pattern in the numbers. 

Plus the alternate uniforms adidas has shown us so far have been awful anyway. If we're going to go out in something different, it might as well not look like shit. 

PLUS I agree with many people on here and say that I don't like the apparel in genral adidas puts out. A lot of the stuff I have from adidas is already fading where it's taken ten years for the stuff I bought from nike to start fading. 

Joined: 03/01/2009

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