This was supposed to be an off year for Adidas. After all, its Reebok subsidiary was set to lose the NFL apparel deal that it had had since 2001 to Adidas archrival Nike. Plus, NHL players wear Reebok and that league’s season hasn’t started yet due to financial differences between the owners and players. That’s not a help to an area that generally brings in $132 million annually. So last month, CEO Herbert Hainer had to tell investors that the company was adjusting its sales expectations for the year.

However, the Financial Times notes, Hainer also had some good news to share: “We will see record sales and earnings in 2013,” he said. “All that I hear from the markets is that we are winning market share in each and every country.” And, adjustments or no, things didn’t go badly for the sportswear giant this year. Its stock price is up 40 percent from the same point last year.

The FT attributes the stock price staying strong for Adidas partially because of the strong confidence of Hainer and his “shrewd instinct about where the sports goods business must go next to expand its appeal to customers.” Serving an aging market as well as helping people deal with the obesity epidemic are two areas that are helping the bottom line at Adidas.Continue reading...

The AT&T MLS All-Star Game taking place this week (July 25) in Philadelphia will be the world's first "smart soccer match" and will feature the new adidas micoach professional soccer team tracking system, billed as the next step in player performance analysis technology.

The tool measures everything an athlete does, and the All-Star game is a prelude to a broader rollout with Major League Soccer in 2013. That's when all 19 Major League Soccer teams will start using the micoach Elite System in a bid to make MLS the world's first smart sports league.Continue reading...

In winning Euro 2012, Spain's national team redeemed Barcelona's defeat at the hands of England's Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final. But the English have come out on top again in Forbes' ranking of the wealthiest sports franchises with Manchester United's value pegged at $2.23 billion. Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona also make Forbes' top 10, coming in at #2 and #8, respectively.

Manchester United may be the most valuable sports franchise, but Deloitte's Football Money League ranks the club only third, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, in terms of revenue amongst global soccer clubs.Continue reading...

AT&T risks customer defections with higher data pricing.

Baskin-Robbins utilizes coquettish voice of Mad Men's Christina Hendricks.

David Beckham, happily back with LA Galaxy, mulls becoming Major League Soccer franchise owner.

Carnival suspends some cruise marketing in wake of Italian shipwreck.

Chevrolet launches Game Time App for "immersive" Super Bowl marketing experience.

Fox makes American Idol available by VOD as first-week ratings dip.

GM claims 2011 global sales crown (incl. record for Chevrolet) but sparks dust-up over tally.Continue reading...

It's tough to be the new guy, especially when you're trying to be the new guy in what many still consider to be a fringe sport, Major League Soccer. The New York Cosmos are not an expansion team yet, but investors in the franchise have been making a case to become MLS's 20th team. The club's competition for this honor includes efforts in Orlando, Miami, St. Louis, and Atlanta.

Despite an all-star management team including Pele as honorary president and Eric Cantona as director of football, the Cosmos have run into some bad press recently concerning its youth academy, formerly known as Blau-Weiss Gottschee. In short, the youth academy claims that the Cosmos owe it $210,000 stemming from a sponsorship agreement made in 2010. It has filed a lawsuit against the Cosmos as a result. This is obviously not good news for a club trying to convince MLS to add it as a second New York team when there is already one struggling team in the area thanks to the New York Red Bulls.Continue reading...

When the television network Versus becomes the NBC Sports Network in 2012, it now has a brand new batch of content to share with its viewers.

NBC and Major League Soccer have just made a deal that has the NBC and its new cable network broadcasting 45 games over the next three seasons as well as four men’s national-team games, according to the New York Times. The contract will end when 2014 games have been completed.Continue reading...