NFL switches over to Nike apparel

Jeff Tyler Mar 27, 2012

Jeremy Hobson: The National Football League draft is right around the corner, but Nike has already been picked when it comes to NFL apparel. It’ll take over the job of making uniforms and jerseys from Reebok.

Marketplace’s Jeff Tyler reports.


Jeff Tyler: A week from today, the NFL will begin selling the new Nike team jerseys at a temporary ‘pop-up’ store in Manhattan.

Don Brown oversees apparel for the NFL.  

Don Brown: With the tremendous increase in viewership and attendance at the draft, we thought it would be a great idea – along with the new partners – the timing is sensational to have a new store, a pop-up store.

How much more was Nike willing to pay to get the contract away from Reebok?

Brown: I’m not at liberty to say how much they paid. But we’ll see a nice increase.

Advertising Age has reported that Nike paid as much as $1.5 billion for the five-year deal.

Professor Scott Rosner follows the business of sports at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He says the deal isn’t just about money.

Scott Rosner: Nike’s distribution globally is a lot stronger than Reebok’s.

Some merchandise will sell itself. With popular players like Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow changing teams, die-hard fans are already motivated to buy new jerseys.

I’m Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.

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