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and these guys wanted to wear our products, so the NFL called us up and said, ‘You can’t put your logos on anything because you’re not an official supplier.'
So, we supplied unbranded product a couple of times, and then we were like, let’s leave our locker tag on so the players know who makes the gear. It just happened to be on the centre back neck and it started showing up in TV. I can imagine if I’m the head of sports marketing at Nike and I’ve signed
a massive contract with the NFL and I’m watching Monday night football and the Colts are playing outdoors in the cold weather wearing these tight- fitting t-shirts that I don’t make, and all of a sudden, I can see the brand’s logo? I would say that’s poking the bear.
Eventually the NFL said, listen, you guys, if you don’t do this the right way, you’re going to be in trouble. So, we asked – how can we do it? They said, why don’t you sponsor our NFL Europe league? So we did.
How did your underdog nature help you to get those athletes to choose you over the other, bigger brands?
I think the athletes were used to the big brands and how the big brands treated people, and our attitude was refreshing to them. We would go above and beyond. Big brands would be like, yes, we’ll get
you something, we’ll see how it works out. Some marketing manager would then put an order in
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