Maria Sharapova signs record-breaking contract with Nike

If you’re an up and coming sports superstar, you may be interested to know a bit about the business of sports.

This week it was announced that Russian tennis champ Maria Sharapova has renewed her sponsorship agreement with Nike for $70 million (yikes) over the next eight years, the largest endorsement deal for a female athlete in history. The contract tops Venus Williams’ five-year, $45-million deal signed with Reebok in 2000, and includes the launch of a clothing line designed by Sharapova, for which she will get a share of the profits.

Nike, the world’s largest athletic-shoe maker, has worked with the Russian tennis player for 11 years. Since winning Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17, Sharapova has become one of the biggest draws on the WTA Tour and the world’s best-paid female athlete.

The deal extension comes less than a year after Sharapova returned from a right-shoulder injury that sidelined her for nine months and forced her to undergo surgery. The best part of the new eight-year deal with the 22-year-old athlete is that Nike is looking beyond her retirement. And Masha’s agent has said that she’s becoming more and more interested in having a hands-on creative role in companies she’s works with as well as an ownership stake.

Sharapova currently makes close to $22 million a year in prize money and from endorsing companies including Tiffany & Co., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. and Canon Inc., according to Sports Illustrated. She was the only woman in the magazine’s July list of the top 20 highest-earning non-U.S. athletes.

Sharapova has won 20 Women’s Tennis Association titles including three majors. In August 2005 she became the first Russian female tennis player to be ranked number one in the world. She took a 10-month break from the court after undergoing shoulder surgery in July 2008, but has proven herself a force to be reckoned since her comeback, advancing to the semi-finals of the French Open last year and pulling her world ranking up to 14th.

Olympic athletes to sport vintage-inspired style

The Countdown to the Olympics includes a lot of important  preparations, not the least of which is what the athletes are going to wear at the Games.

As he has done before, Ralph Lauren will have a hand in outfitting the athletes. His  affinity for Americana will be on full display  at the Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia — complete with a patriotic palette of red, white and blue, along with stars-and-stripes flags and, of course, polo ponies.

Long-sleeve T-shirts with big bold graphics printed on the chest are part of the Olympic Village wardrobe, as well as white warm-up jackets with red and blue stripes down the sleeves and old-school alpine ski sweaters decorated with reindeer.

The closing-ceremony parade outfit includes a mostly red and blue shawl-collar sweater with antique buttons, a newsboy cap, a plaid shirt for the men, and a navy ribbed turtleneck for the women.

“We took a lot of inspiration from the 1930s games, reaching into the heyday of the Olympics and bringing to a more modern sensibility,” said David Lauren, the company’s senior vice president of advertising, marketing and communications.

During an Olympic fashion segment on the TODAY show, freestyle skiers Sho Kashima and Emily Cook modeled the closing ceremony outfits, including the vintage-inspired newsboy caps, cardigans, alpine boots and fleece pants.

Ralph Laureh, who dressed the American athletes for the summer games two years ago, has signed on with the U.S. Olympic Committee through 2012 in London to provide ceremonial clothes as well as recreational looks. It’s also creating the outfits for the Paralympic teams.

While the winter athletes will sport Ralph Lauren for the open/closing ceremonies,  Nike will rock the podium. The sportswear giant, who has also signed on as an official supplier for the winter games, will provide apparel and footwear for Olympians — for the competition, on the medal stand, and for wearing casually in the Olympic village. Focusing on incorporating sustainable “considered design,” Nike’s design team researched the variety of winter sports conditions the athletes are likely to encounter, from icy storms to heavy snow, and created fashionable modern looks that will also be available to the public at Niketown stores.

Nike unveiled the medal stand looks — blue waterproof down jackets — on short track speed skater J.R. Celski and snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler during the Olympic fashion segment on TODAY. The jackets featured 100 percent recycled fabric, 800-fill down insulation, and a unique faded fabric print that is customized for every single jacket.

With Nike and Ralph Lauren teaming up with the USOC on the fashion front, at least the U.S. athletes will sport a winning look.

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Seventeen: Play like a pro with Candice Wiggins’s tips

Basketball player Candice Wiggins, the star Stanford shooting guard, always had a goal of going pro. And after many obstacles, she’s finally there, playing in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx.

Her sponsor, Nike, recently announced they will feature Wiggins in a new program called Delicious Training, which is designed to inspire teen girls.

Seventeen.com caught up with the player recently. Read what Candice has learned about getting in shape (and making it fun), staying focused on the court, making sacrifices and dealing with the teammates she didn’t always like!

17: The new Nike ads you’re in are about “Delicious Training,” or making training fun for yourself. What are some of the workouts that are fun for you?
Candice Wiggins: As an athlete, I loved playing in the game. But there’s a whole other side of training, not necessarily just on the court. I love doing core workouts. In the [campaign photo] shoot, I was really doing boxing, and it was probably one of the hardest workouts of my life.

17: Are there any fun workout tips you can suggest for people who don’t necessarily like to train or work out?
CW: Being with friends is number one! Having fun means being around people who you can help motivate. There’s a lot of strength in numbers.

More of the interview at Seventeen.com

Cover Girl: Carissa Moore first girl on cover of Surfer Magazine in over 10 years

High school student and rock star surfer Carissa Moore is the first female to grace the cover of Surfer Magazine in over a decade.

Last November Moore became the youngest surfer to ever win a Triple Crown event just after splitting with longtime sponsor Roxy and signing a huge sponsorship deal with Nike and Red Bull.

With her appearance on the cover of Surfer Magazine, the 16-year-old high school junior is the first female since Lisa Andersen in 1995 to be featured, and only the third girl in the magazine’s 50-year history.

For the moment the teen phenom has lightened her pro surfing load and is just focusing on getting through school (she’s attending Punahou on Oahu, the same school that produced both Michelle Wie and President Obama). That said, the minute she has diploma in hand you know she’s going to be taking the world by storm.

ESPN Action Sports caught up with Carissa to see just how she’s handling it all. Find out what she thinks about high school gossip, not wanting a driver’s license, how she was punked and whether she has a date for the Junior Dance.

Nike+: Men vs Women challenge

Haven’t seen this in the U.S. but in Europe, Nike has launched an integrated campaign  called “Men vs. Women.” The goal is to motivate athletes to enjoy running in completely new ways.

With Gnarls Barkley crooning through their earbuds, with the “Run (I’m a Natural Disaster)”, some superstar athletes turn on the juice.

The women get a hand from world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe and hip hop dancer Sofia Boutella.

The men are supported by tennis ace Rodger Federer, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Liverpool hot-shot Fernando Torres and Tony Parker (with his wife, Eva Longoria).

Who can rack up the most miles on the Men vs Women challenge leaderboard at nikeplus.com?

Reebok wants you!

Reebok, once a broad force in the U.S. footwear market, is trying to start over by returning to its niche roots.

The brand, which has seen its sales and profile evaporate since being sold to Adidas for $3.8 billion in 2005, is hoping a series of major initiatives in women’s fitness — the category that brought it prominence in the U.S. in the 1980s — can help it spark a comeback. Those initiatives include a workout regiment co-branded with Cirque du Soleil, dubbed Jukari, which it hopes will catch on with the same fervor as its step-aerobics platform did in 1989. The company also plans significant marketing investments behind two new women’s fitness shoe lines.

The push behind Jukari — which will offer high-flying aerobics classes featuring ceiling-mounted, bungeed trapeze swings — and the new women’s fitness shoes may allay concerns by retailers worried about corporate support. But analysts wonder whether the brand has simply lost relevance with its core female consumers, who have been courted aggressively by Nike, Under Armour and others.

Jukari Fit to Fly

JUKARI Fit to Fly  fuses the creative and artistic world of Cirque du Soleil with the fitness expertise of Reebok. The name comes for a word dialect meaning “to play”.  Participants flex and flutter, sweat and stretch, and swing from a FlySet. It’s all about moving your body in a fun new ways.

The new gym experience launches this month in Germany, Korean, Malaysia and Poland and later in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Spain, UK and USA.

What do you think? Can Reebok (with the help of le Cirque) make a comeback?

Nike/Sports Authority ‘Believe in the Run’ Contest

Do you get up every morning at 5 a.m. for a jog? Do you compete in every marathon you can? Are you already on your third pair of running shoes this season? Then you BELIEVE IN THE RUN.

Create a video or photo with a detailed description explaining your own personal commitment, passion and belief in the run and you might score some amazing prizes.  

The Grand Prize winner will be rewarded with a trip to NIKE Headquarters for the total NIKE Experience and will also fly to participate in the race of their choice (Portland Marathon 2009, Honolulu Marathon 2009, Gasparilla Distance Classica 2010, or Eugene Marathon 2010) and to top it all off will get a $500 gift card to The Sports Authority.

Why Does Kara Goucher Believe in the Run? 
Learn what double-event Beijing qualifier and marathon-phenom Kara Goucher has to say about believing in the run. Read her story then tell your own!

The contest runs March 3, 2009  thru April 28, 2009. Get started now and show how you BELIEVE IN THE RUN.

(Editors Note: If you currently participate, or plan to participate, in a school-sponsored or amateur organized sport, receiving anything of value may affect your eligibility both now and in the future. Be sure to check with team officials regarding your situation).

Are you the one? Sister One giveaway

To celebrate the amazing achievements in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Nike has created a series of one-of-a- kind training shoes inspired by the successes of their female athletes. This fresh campaign is for a line of trainers called Sister One +. Pledge to one of the Nike Olympians to train your best and you could win her shoe!

• Jessica Mendoza (Softball)
• Hope Solo (Soccer)
• Sanya Richardson (Track)
• Diana Taurasi (Basketball)

The truly unique shoes each feature a piece of fabric from the athlete’s authentic Olympic uniform stitched onto the shoe’s tongue. 

Girls (13 and older) can log-onto nike.com  and enter to win their own pair of these inspirational shoes by pledging to train as hard as the featured Olympians. 

A panel of judges will review each pledge and the most inspirational will win the beautiful shoes and have them presented in person by the athlete.  The contest ends March 31, 2009.

Cool, huh?

Guerilla Gossip Girl stumps for Nike?

A recent video featuring GG star Taylor Momsen (and a stunt double?) pulling some very slick moves on the paparazzi may or may not be part of an underground campaign by Nike. Is L’il J stumping for the sports brand? What do you think?

(via Fashionista)

GameChangers: Changing the Game for Women in Sport

November 18, 2008 - If you think all social networking happens on Facebook, think again.

Sports giant Nike – long an advocate for empowerment and change in the world of women in sport - has just joined forces with the non-profit Ashoka organization – a global association of social entrepreneurs –  to launch “GameChangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport.”

Gamechangers is an online competition that challenges young social entrepreneurs to come up with ways to “leverage sport for positive social change in the lives of girls and women.”

From now until February 11, 2009 the site will be accepting submissions and nominations for innovative solutions in the field of sport for social change.  Early entrants are also eligible to win a camcorder and digital camera so they can make a video for the site!

Judges include soccer player Abby Wambach and Mystics owner Sheila Johnson who will  select 10-15 finalists; the Changemakers online community will then vote for the 3 winners. Even non-contestants are encouraged to join the dialogue by making suggestions and recommendations in Changemakers’ online forum.

This is a great idea on so many levels so get your creative juices flowing. Not only does the competition inspire empowerment by offering winners the chance to see their proposals realized, but it also provides the opportunity for young women to get plugged into a global community of activists. 

Now that’s teamwork.

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