Skechers Files Lawsuit, Claims They Suffered Financial Damages From Adidas’ NCAA Basketball Scandal

Dent7 years ago

The FBI probe into Adidas and their illicit activity with college basketball players just won’t seem to go away. Up to this point, there has been extensive media coverage of the investigation as it pertains to the schools involved and the individuals that allegedly took money. There’s more to the story, though. The fake news media has been turning a blind eye to another group influenced by this mess: Adidas’ direct competitors.

As in, the shoemakers who weren’t funneling illegal payments to players. One powerhouse footwear giant in particular is coming at Adidas’ throat because of all this: Skechers.

From Chicago Tribune:

The latest shot in the long-running “sneaker wars” was fired Thursday in a federal court in California, where Skechers filed a lawsuit against Adidas. The action was based on revelations that have emerged from the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball, with Skechers claiming it was financially damaged by Adidas’s alleged practice of delivering illicit payments to highly touted recruits and their families.

The payments “denied competitors like Skechers who play by the rules a fair opportunity to compete for the cachet of having trend-setting high-school and college athletes seen in their products, effectively blocked Skechers and other companies from competing on a level playing field for young, NBA-level endorsers, and unfairly bolstered consumer perceptions of adidas’s overall brand quality and image well beyond the basketball footwear market,” the company said.

Corruption — that is the reason Skechers can’t get NBA players to endorse their product. If it weren’t for the big guys paying off every player in sight, we would be seeing the LeBrons of the world stepping out in some Shape-ups.

And I know some of you are probably thinking to yourselves, “Skechers makes shoes without Velcro?” Yes, their normal clientele is generally a combination of the elderly and small children, but they’re so much more than that. Go check out their whole offering; especially their basketball line — them joints are fire.

Integrity should matter in business, but it often doesn’t. It’s doubtful you’ve ever even owned a pair of shoes made in America, and that’s not because the factories in Asia are champions of fair business; it’s just the way things are.

Did Adidas hinder Skechers’ business by paying off players? That’s for a judge to decide. All I know is that I’ve been wearing Skechers all my life and I have never felt cooler..

[via Chicago Tribune]

Image via Wikimedia Commons