My friend who works at adidas is worried this could eventually bring down the entire company. Probably far-fetched, people will still buy shoes, but still.
When you had boosters illegally funneling money, they banned those boosters. When the shoe corporations illegally funnel money, will they ban the shoe companies? Louisville is supposed to be getting paid $160 million by adidas.
Right now the media seems to be focused on those accepting bribes and kickbacks. But bribery is a two-way street.
With the cost outlays that Adidas America has out there right now, this could damage them in the domestic marketplace that they have made many strides in the past 10 years. As for "illegally funneling money", have I missed something? As of yet I do not believe that any institution has been accused of any illegal activities, only coaches and handlers.
The AAU circuit mentioned earlier could get a serious blow, and I personally hope this happens.
Jimmy Gatto was arrested. He is director of global sports marketing at Adidas.
I'm sure the FBI will soon seek access to his phone records, emails, etc., if they don't have it already. They will investigate to see if this alleged corruption/money laundering was widespread within the company.
(Note: when I mentioned illegally, I guess I was juxtaposing previous NCAA violations against current criminal allegations. I assume the NCAA will find these actions against bylaws, but haven't really looked into that)
Last Edited: 9/27/2017 2:05:38 PM by Mike Coleman