When the Bradley athletic department introduced the new “B” logo last fall, it was almost certain something bigger was coming for the department and the university as a whole.
That is why in January of this year, the Athletic Department headed by Dr. Michael Cross, announced a five-year deal with Adidas through the 2017-2018 season. This deal will come full circle starting this season, as many of Bradley’s fall sports teams will be showcasing their new Adidas apparel and footwear for the first time.
With Baseball and Basketball being the only exception in the deal until their contracts run out in 2014-2015 season because of previous deals with Wilson and Nike respectively, all athletic teams will be outfitted in one brand for the first time in school history..
“The entire process took about a year and of course we wanted to reach out to the top brands and we are incredibly excited about the deal we have with Adidas” said Heidi Wegmueller, Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs and whom also put in a lot of work for the Adidas signing. “What is so great about this relationship we were striving for with Adidas, is that for the first time in our school’s history we have an all sports agreement with one footwear and apparel company.”
Bradley joins many other top Division I schools to have Adidas outfit their athletes. Bradley joins universities such as Indiana, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Tennessee Cincinnati, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, and Nebraska.
Wegmueller said out of all of the schools that Adidas has, Bradley and the University of Indiana are the only two universities with completely Adidas team stores. That change she said has boosted team store revenue and interest from Bradley athletics fans when in early August the team store in the Coliseum was converted to a strictly Adidas only team store.
“We have had record sales we have ever had here in the short month since we changed the store over” Wegmueller said. “People want to wear what the teams are wearing and what the coaches are wearing on the sideline, so it’s the official gear”
