Canzano: Adidas goes on offense with NFL signees
NFL Draft class comes to Portland.
The employees at Adidas headquarters leaked out the doors of their respective buildings. It was half past nine last Tuesday morning. I was on the campus to go behind the scenes with the company’s NFL Draft class and talk with the innovation team, but the morning started with an impromptu parade.
The employees lined the main path on campus, clapping and cheering, as Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza and a dozen merry football-playing friends walked past, smiling and waving.
Arizona State receiver Jordyn Tyson was there. Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr. is part of the Adidas draft class, too. KC Concepcion of Texas A&M was on campus as well. Those guys made sense. They played college ball at Adidas schools, after all. But it was some of the other signees — Nike defectors — that jumped out at me.
Among them is a trio of Ohio State stars.
Also, an Oregon Duck.
“This isn’t an art house. We don’t do these things for art,” John Miller, Adidas North America president, told me in his office later in the day. “We’re into functional product development and bringing a better product to the consumer.”