By Andria Cheng, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Nate Washington, a wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans, said he used to tape his jersey to make it tighter, use elastic band around his waist to make sure his jersey wouldn't come loose and wear an extra pair of socks so they stayed up during games.
Not anymore, he said, with Nike Inc.'s
/quotes/zigman/235840/quotes/nls/nke NKE
-0.33%
introduction of uniforms for the National Football League's 32 teams after it this month officially took over the license from Adidas AG's
/quotes/zigman/364540 ADDYY
-2.98%
Reebok unit, which held the license for 10 years.
Nike signed a five-year deal with the league that gives it rights for on-field apparel including base layers, jerseys, socks and gloves. The license also gives it rights to make sidelines and practice apparel and fan gear.
NFL and Nike Unveil New Team Jerseys
This season, Nike will design the player jerseys for all 32 NFL teams. The designs were unveiled today in Brooklyn, NY. MarketWatch's Andria Cheng was there and spoke with Nike's president about the new jerseys.
"You look good, you play good," said Washington in an interview, adding off the field, he would wear the new team-issued sweat pants to even go out now whereas in the past he wouldn't have. "You have to make sure everything fit properly. This is something I can definitely wear now."
At a film studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Tuesday, Nike, featuring players outfitted in its new gear from all 32 NFL teams and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, showcased the new outfits in a space made to look like a football stadium.
The deal has the potential to be a big sales and profit driver for Nike and NFL this year, analysts said. Demand for its NFL products contributed as much as 5 points to Nike's fiscal third-quarter orders, a gauge of future sales, in the company's top market in North America, they said.
"We are increasingly comfortable with the potential for upside to our above-consensus revenue estimates over the next few quarters," partly on the potential contribution from the NFL license, said Credit Suisse analyst Christian Buss.
Nike shares closed up 0.8% to $109.87, leading to a 14% increase this year.
Reebok, as it was winding down the license, generated $250 million in wholesale sales last year with its peak sales during the 10-year license at about $500 million, Matt Powell, an analyst at SportsOneSource, told MarketWatch.
Nike could easily exceed that number and could generate $750 million on a wholesale basis just in the first year, he said.
That would translate into an additional $1 billion in retail sales for NFL related merchandise this year compared to last year, Powell said. The league's merchandise sales have declined to $2.5 billion last year from a peak of $5 billion in 2006, he said. Major League Baseball, college sports, National Basketball Association each outnumbered the NFL in total merchandise sales last year, Powell said.
"We'll see a big sales jump for both retailers and Nike," Powell said. "This can be a big game changer."
The new changes include making the jerseys lighter, dry faster and non-water absorbent. They also have a sleeker and more fitted look. Some of the teams such as Seattle Seahawks got a bigger change in the way the jerseys look, with the new Seahawks uniform featuring a darker blue shade with lime green.
The new gloves feature each team's logos while the cleats' color combinations coordinate with the team's uniforms. Nike said it worked with hundreds of players, incorporating technology such as body mapping, over a two-year period to come up with the new designs.
"I'm excited to play with it," said San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Alex Smith in an interview. "You want to look good and feel good when you play. Nike has done a great job balancing it."
Twenty seven of the teams took the company's full new design suggestions, while five of them including the Philadelphia Eagles didn't take any of the company's design features, Nike said.
Nike also created three versions of the jerseys from the high-end authentic player jersey retailing at $250 to the opening price line at $100. At the lowest priced level, that compared to the traditional version Reebok made sold at retail for about $85.
"The merits of the product itself will carry the price point," said Nike Brand President Charlie Denson in an interview, adding original orders placed about three months ago from the retailers for the NFL Draft weekend have topped the company's expectations. "I feel comfortable with initial response from our retail customers. We feel confident that the price points will be well received in the consumer community. We believe we have a great opportunity here."
Analysts said as sports caps and athletic shoes have surfaced as a fashion trend, Nike's introduction of the NFL apparel could have the potential to put licensed gear back as street fashion.
"Can NFL become fashionable again?" Denson said. "It's very fashionable now. Nobody has capitalized on it. Our ambition is to be able to capitalize on it."
Brian Orakpo, a linebacker at Washington Redskins, told MarketWatch he wouldn't mind wearing some of the new NFL licensed hooded shirts and jackets Nike designed to go out.
"There's a real outgoing appeal," Orakpo said in an interview. "It's not just standard hoodies and sweatshirts or normal workout gear. It's really dressed up."
/quotes/zigman/235840/quotes/nls/nke 
US
: NYSE Euronx
Volume: 570,718
April 4, 2012 10:46a
Rev. per Employee
$616,053
/quotes/zigman/364540
US
: Other OTC Mk
Volume: 806.00
April 4, 2012 10:31a
Rev. per Employee
$398,975
Andria Cheng is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
0 意見:
Post a Comment