Travis Hunter became an Adidas athlete right after his senior season with the Colorado Buffaloes came to an end, leaving fans quite curious about the decision. Mostly because his coach, Deion Sanders, and quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, are both signed with rival company Nike. The first thing fans pointed out and joked about was that Coach Prime has a line of shoes with Nike which Hunter can no longer wear.
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Earlier in the season, a video surfaced of Hunter mentioning he had a pair of his coach’s shoes on layaway. However, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see him wearing them — at least not in public.
“Bro gotta go put all of Coach Prime’s shoes back in his office now,” one fan wrote, accompanied by a laughing emoji.
— Semper (@Semper152892) December 12, 2024
Hunter’s signing is a significant one for Adidas, especially given the challenges they have faced in recent years. The deal comes at a time when sales across the board have been down for the footwear company after their costly breakup with Kanye West. The split came in 2022 after West made antisemitic remarks that forced Adidas to sell his stock shares and scrub him from the company DNA.
Now with Hunter as the frontward-facing athlete of the company, Adidas looks forward to greener pastures with a player who has been nothing but likable to the media. This deal should be the beginning of an uptick in sales.
Some fans wondered how Nike fumbled so baldy and let Hunter slip away.
— Semper (@Semper152892) December 12, 2024
— Semper (@Semper152892) December 12, 2024
Nike are known for getting A-list athletes to join their company, and they already had signed Hunter’s teammate, Shedeur. It’s crazy if Nike had not employed any strategies to get Hunter to join their squad. Or maybe they did, and the deal just didn’t work.
Shedeur has been signed with Nike since the start of the college football season. His announcement came almost 30 years to the day that his father, Deion, signed with the company. Like father, like son, as they say. His $5.1 million deal made him the sixth most valuable player, according to NIL.
Hunter’s deal, while it’s not worth as much as Shedeur, is coming in at $3.1 million as of now. Adidas, while they may not be as popular as Nike, still have some of the biggest stars across sports. Patrick Mahomes, Lionel Messi, Damian Lillard, and David Beckham are all Adidas athletes.
The sportswear company clearly believes Hunter could become the next big star in the NFL.