The season of adidas is nigh upon us. The traditional thought is that this will have the greatest impact on football and basketball, which very well may prove to be true; however I saw a video about going to a running event at adidas headquarters in Germany. The whole thing was really fascinating from the standpoint of how much research and development goes into just the running aspect of adidas, which is where I think they make a lot of money and where they are on the cutting edge with Nike to create the next legal super-shoe.

And for those of you that know, adidas was started by a brother, the other brother started Puma, and they are rivals. It is my understanding that the bulk of adidas business is on the weight of the world’s most popular sport, soccer with running being a close second. And this made me consider the sports most greatly affected by the move to adidas.

I’ve tried to dig for stats on how adidas spends their R&D money, but haven’t been able to find that, so these top 5 items are my opinion and based on what I think, not on statistics.

1. Track and Field. Again, the technology going into the running space is off the charts. Everyone can run and everyone can buy a pair of shoes, thus to have technology that continuously turns over new products and lighter foams is the space that Kittley and his staff will be able to make an impact. The running shoe technology going into Under Armour barely hits the radar for consumers and for athletes from what I can tell. The improved product that these athletes will have will be the most significant upgrade. I don’t even know if the athletes in track even wore Under Armour on a regular basis. I’d also add that the garments, from warm ups to the racing gear will have a big upgrade over UA.

2. Soccer. This is where adidas spends a ton of research and development, the global game is a significant part of the pie and although this only affects the ladies, this will be a significant upgrade from the kit to the shoes. UA doesn’t have a global footprint in soccer other than fitting out colleges. At least not that I’m aware of and so this is really pretty easy. The biggest business of adidas (they sponsor Lionel Messi for goodness sakes) is soccer.

3. Basketball. The 3 stripe life with basketball is significant. I’ve talked about how there are 4 or 5 different summer leagues with Nike and adidas being the top dogs. Nike has been at the forefront but with teams like Kansas with adidas and other college programs the scales are more even now than ever. And with these leagues a UA coach can certainly recruit a kid that plays with Nike or adidas but it certainly gives the coach an invitation to a club that is pretty exclusive and if they start giving endorsement deals to athletes that certainly sweetens the pot. And these athletes are accustomed to being pampered to an extent with free gear and top notch travel so most of the time you are catering to a group of players that get how this all works on the circuit and if there are adidas relationships that can continue, that certainly helps the cause. The only thing that is interesting for me is that adidas hasn’t had the superstar athlete endorse adidas shies and the kids are not wearing them. That maybe changes a bit with the Anthony Edwards deal but that’s the next step for adidas is to get all of this money flowing into basketball actually onto the feet of kids. As a quick aside, Youssouf has a pair of Puma’s and he lies them better than the Nike’s he has always had. He says they are more comfortable on his feet and I can guarantee that he will buy another pair because of that. Not only that, but the Lady Raider Jasmine Shavers already has a sponsored deal with adidas and make no mistake that the #1 player in the country, Aaliyah Chavez, also saw that if Jasmine Shavers can be a sponsored athlete, but that she can as well.

4. Football. To even get to this point without mentioning football and Patrick Mahomes tells you what a behemoth adidas really is. We see football as the big sport, and it certainly is, but I think football is properly placed. Mahomes is the biggest name in football and I am guessing his relationship with adidas helped grease the conversational wheels between Texas Tech and adidas. In fact I found it strange how quickly Mahomes had a deal with adidas after he declared for the NFL Draft. It is clear that UA is not on the upswing and adidas has been a market force for a long time. Adidas has only done football on the collegiate level, but that is fine with me. The materials used won’t be that different than with soccer and the cleats are from the same soccer technology. Micah Hudson, again, perhaps not a mistake with Mahomes being the best football player on the planet, and the best freshman for Texas Tech being the lone sponsor thus far with adidas (he did an Instagram post) says something about how the machine works.

5. Golf. Ludvig Aberg has quickly changed the equation. Winning over $10 million before a year has elapsed since his professional debut, Aberg having that adidas logo on his hat is maybe one of the best advertisements for Texas Tech and for adidas. Another sport that is directly relatable to the guy or gal who has disposable income to drop some coin on the golfer who went to the same college as you. I do not know if golf in Europe is as big as it is here but that’s the thing with Aberg is that he has international appeal. And adidas just does golf apparel, not clubs or anything else. I think that adidas used to own TaylorMade, but that was sold off.

The Others. I’m at a bit of a loss after this. My guess would be that tennis would be the next group that would see a significant benefit, another international sport that has a significant footprint in Europe, 2 of the 4 majors are in Europe being Wimbledon and the French Open, and think of all of the players who have arrived at Texas Tech from Europe, including, perhaps, Aberg’s girlfriend played tennis at Texas Tech. Baseball and softball are not big sports for adidas I don’t think. This doesn’t make it bad, but maybe just not as significant for these two sports. Volleyball is another sport that I don’t know a ton about, but I do know that the #1 team in the nation, Nebraska, is an adidas team so it is certainly not holding them back. I just don’t know if they have circuits like basketball has and if the sponsorship of those circuits is put on by the these shoe companies.