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Replying to @cavadoyou there was a time when Nike was terrified of Under Armour. In 2016, they were at their high and a real threat to the big players. Steph Curry leaving Under Armour is a big blow. He was their last remaining power player there who could really love the brand. Let’s see if Justin Jefferson can do the heavy lifting now. #underarmour #stephcurry
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I don't hate Under Armour, but the fall from grace since the 2016 dominance will be studied in business schools forever. At one point, UA was flying high in the business. They had every MVP from every worst. Steph, Jordan Spieth winning majors, Tom Brady winning Super Bowls, Cam Newton as the biggest star in the NFL with his own signature cleats that were doing numbers every week. They sponsored the Cubs. We're just making inroads everywhere. But the real business success was ignoring New York and LA and basically picking the other 48 flyover states that Nike and Adidas did not care about at all. They embrace hunting and rural lifestyle and youth sports and went so hard on their DNA, which was this click clack, really agro, really focused in football. While Nike and Adidas strategy had always been going after teen athletes, Under Armour just went younger. They went after the 10 year old athlete, and every kid from five to 10 years old was wearing Under Armour. Because you know what? Eventually, 10 year olds become 13 year olds and 17 year olds and 25 year olds. And I'm glad they were because looking back, I realized it allowed me to do such cool things in the early part of my career. I was a Nike football, and our leadership was terrified of Under Armour. It was in every single meeting, company wide. And we got incredible latitude because the leaders were worried about Under Armour creeping. So I got to do things like drive Lamborghinis. We landed helicopters on high school football fields delivering best layer. Anyway, they lost their way, and maybe they'll find it somewhere, but I think they find it by going back to tier