The Kevin Durant to Under Armour saga just took another turn, as Roc Nation founder and hip hop superstar Jay Z has apparently imposed a Wednesday deadline for Nike to respond to UA's lucrative offer.
As many of you know, the Baltimore-based Under Armour offered Durant a 10-year sponsorship deal in the range of $265 million to $285 million. Hova and his friends at Roc Nation want Nike to either match the offer or counter with an offer close to it.
Since signing with Nike before his rookie year of 2007, Durant has made roughly $70 million off his seven-year deal with the Swoosh. If Durant were to make the switch to Under Armour, he would more than double his current endorsement deal amount. This, of course, would come at a major expense for Under Armour, as the offer is believed to be about 10 percent of UA's total marketing budget. Prior to Durant, Under Armour's biggest basketball endorser has been the Warriors' Stephen Curry.
Business Week points out that this is the first instance of a company really giving Nike a run for their money when it comes to recruiting talent. Unlike soccer where they battle with adidas, Nike stands superior when it comes to basketball, snagging the likes of larger-than-life superstars Michael Jordan and LeBron James in its history.
As he showed with the Robinson Cano signing this past winter, Jay Z knows a thing or two about negotiating. Don't be surprised if Jay can coax Nike into forking over some big time bucks to retain KD, something he couldn't get the Yankees to do this past winter to retain their superstar. But then again, $285 dollars is A LOT of money and we wouldn't be surprised if KD jumped ship either. Stay tuned.
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