Arizona State May Be Switching From Nike To Adidas Starting In 2015

If you happen to be a fan of Arizona State and the modernization that their sports program underwent thanks to Nike back in 2011, then bad news is on the way. If you’re not a fan of this look and you’re waiting for change, that change could be coming in the form of a new supplier: adidas. According to a source for AZCentral.com, Arizona State may be very close to making the jump from Nike to adidas in time for the 2015-16 athletic campaign.

From the article:

Arizona State’s athletic apparel negotiations are still in a “sensitive and confidential phase” according to Vice President for Athletics Ray Anderson, although a sports marketing industry source believes ASU is close to finalizing a deal with Adidas that would begin in 2015-16.
ASU is in the seventh year of its latest contract with Nike, worth $2,110,000 in equipment and cash for 2014-15. Nike and ASU have been partners since 2004 after a five-year ASU run with Adidas ended. ASU and Nike collaborated for more than a year before unveiling its “Fear the Fork” rebranding in April 2011.
ASU’s contract with Nike expires June 30, 2015. Anderson and Chief Business Development Officer Greg McElroy have been negotiating with Nike, Adidas and Under Armour, looking for the most lucrative deal to help fund ASU’s ambitious athletic agenda.

So as the last line notes, there is still a possibility that Nike could retain the rights to being ASU’s supplier, but the old adage states that ‘money talks,’ which means that apparently adidas is talking louder than anybody else at the table right now.

For those who are hoping that this could lead to a more conservative look for the Sun Devils, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. If you’ve been paying attention to college football uniform trends for the past few years, then you can see that pretty much every supplier has been trying their best to ‘out-Nike’ Nike when it comes to funky and eye-catching uniform combos, so I wouldn’t expect to see them simplify the look that ASU currently has. If anything, they’ll probably double down on it. That’s just speculation on my part, though.