Under Armour Claims That No Deal is Too Big for the Baltimore Brand

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The Kevin Durant sneaker saga ended this past weekend when the reigning NBA MVP re-upped with Nike for a potential $300 million contract that runs over 10 years.

After being seriously courted by Under Armour, Durant ultimately decided to stay with the swoosh but not before doing some serious dancing with UA's offer. It is believed that Under Armour offered a deal somewhere in the range of $265-million-to-$285-million for the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar's services. Today, Under Armour Chairman/CEO/Founder Kevin Plank spoke out for the first time since losing out on the Durant sweepstakes. According to Plank, Under Armour's flirtation with Durant was an announcement to the rest of the sneaker world that Under Armour is here to play.

"The second thing we wanted to do with this deal was we wanted to send a message really out to every athletic director, every president of every team club, every league commissioner and say if you have a deal, there's no deal too big that we can't sit at the table and play with, that you should call us if we haven't already called you by any chance," Plank said. "But that's where we wanted to send that message loud and clear."

While Nike proved once again that it is the go-to company for the NBA's topflight talent (See LeBron James, Durant and Kobe Bryant), Plank is making it known that Under Armour is going to be a viable competitor to Nike for years to come.

"So thankfully at this point what we've demonstrated is that this is not a $30 billion company versus a $3 billion company," Plank added. "We've leveled the playing field with the fact that we can sit at any table, any time, any league, anybody. And frankly Under Armour is open for business and we're looking forward to doing big deals with important partners in the future for a long time."

Watch the full interview with Bloomberg TV above (Skip to the 2:52 mark to get to Durant) and keep it locked with Sneaker report for all information regarding signature athletes and their sneakers.

[Bloomberg]

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