Stephen Curry is the best shooter in the National Basketball Association, bar none, and winner of the league’s Most Valuable Player award — and he could be worth $1 billion to athletic apparel maker Under Armour Inc.
At least, that’s what Chief Executive Kevin Plank is hoping.
During a call with investors following the company’s first-quarter earnings report in April, Plank said Under Armour’s goal is to build a $1 billion basketball brand centered around Curry.
Curry is the league’s MVP and led the Warriors to the NBA Finals, which opens Thursday night against LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
“I’m as proud, I think, of the quality of people we have,” Plank said, speaking about how Curry carries himself off the court. “But from the Curry One [basketball shoe] to the Curry Two, we’ve been modifying and chasing that a little bit where we had pretty limited expectations of what we really wanted to do with that product to begin with … It’s going to help elevate what was about a $100 million basketball business. And you know our goal is building a billion-dollar basketball brand.”
Under Armour said footwear revenue in the first quarter climbed 41 percent over a year ago to $161 million. It attributed the strong growth to the introduction of the Curry One signature basketball shoe, along with new offerings of the SpeedForm running shoe.
Rival Nike Inc.’s Jordan Brand is the premier basketball shoe, so much so that it’s outgrown the hardwood to become a style. But Poser points out that Jordan Brand, built around long-retired Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, has been around for three decades. Poser said Under Armour has a huge opportunity in 27-year-old Curry, but the basketball star will have to develop appeal beyond his on-court performance.
“Stephen Curry is a great player,” Poser said. “But it’s about whether he’s able to gain that iconic status where wearing his shoes is cool.”
Under Armour is beating Nike in one area: the stock market. Its shares closed Wednesday up 15 percent so far this year, handily beating Nike’s 6.6 percent rise, according to FactSet data.
“Right now, Under Armour’s focus is all about performance, and for good reason,” Poser said. “But it has to morph into a lifestyle brand, and you can’t force that … It has to be organic.”
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