In 2014, a not-quite-yet-the-real-deal Steph Curry famously signed with Under Armour, which at the time owned a measley 0.35 percent of the basketball retail market and whose trademark signing had previously been Brandon Jennings (now averaging and underwhelming 7 points, 3.5 assists per game for Orlando).
Playing in his first signature Under Armour sneaker in 2014, Curry set the record for most three-pointers in an NBA season with 286 and won MVP award. The Curry One sneaker helped Under Armour sell a record $153 million in shoes in three months. At the end of the season, Under Armor sneaker sales jumped 754 percent.
According to ESPN, founder and CEO, Kevin Plank, told investors that its footwear business, which made up 14 percent of its $3 billion in sales last year, would make up an estimated 22 percent of its projected $7.5 billion in sales by 2017. This was a huge splash by Under Armour, considering Nike has signed 68 percent of NBA players, 74 percent if you count its Jordan subsidiary–with their token player being Lebron James, who has a lifetime contract with Nike worth more than $500 million.
This begs the question: how in God’s green earth did the band geek girl lock down the star athlete?
Well, Nike gave the assist.
Via ESPN:
The pitch meeting, according to Steph’s father Dell, who was present, kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as “Steph-on,” the moniker, of course, of Steve Urkel’s alter ego in Family Matters. “I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before,” says Dell Curry. “I wasn’t surprised. I was surprised that I didn’t get a correction.”
It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured Kevin Durant’s name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials. “I stopped paying attention after that,” Dell says. Though Dell resolved to “keep a poker face,” throughout the entirety of the pitch, the decision to leave Nike was in the works.
Steph-on, really? My mother knows how to pronounce Curry’s name and she thinks Michael Jordan is still playing.
Whatever, it really doesn’t matter if you prepared for Steph’s meeting like a college kid would a take home test, it’s not like he’s that good now anyway. Oh wait.
Speaking of fails.
[h/t ESPN]