Adidas to Revamp Basketball Business

Adidas isn't de-emphasizing basketball.

It remains a core part of the company's business with annual sales around $1 billion, including basketball-related sales in other Adidas divisions, Grancio said.

"We're going to invest more money in basketball over the next five years than we ever have," he said.

The decision to part with the NBA coincides with Adidas' next five-year plan, which will be released in March and run until 2020.

"We thought now was the best time to finalize some key decisions," Grancio said. "The NBA is a great partner. We think there are bigger opportunities in terms of player marketing and brand marketing."

Grancio said the new Adidas strategy boils down to getting more Adidas shoes on the feet of "high school kids."

Specifically, Grancio said Adidas will:

• Double its roster of NBA players from 70 to 140 by 2020. The company also recently said it wants to sign as many as 250 more NFL players and 250 more Major League Baseball players.
• Invest more in high schools and college teams. Adidas recently signed apparel deals with Arizona State and the University of Miami.
• Improve the look of basketball products with the help of a group of three new basketball designers.
• Use a new four-person innovation team in basketball to generate ideas.
• Increase advertising to improve how Adidas "tells stories" for its basketball products.

"We think those investments will enable us to drive a much stronger footwear association with our brand and elevate and drive (market) share."

Grancio said new-look Adidas basketball products will be available in spring and summer 2016.

"We want to sharpen the edge and be more disruptive," he said. "If I were to describe our products in brief, historically we've been too safe. We want to be much more aggressive in design."

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