Cooper Flagg trots around at Duke University as a once-in-a-decade skills. The 17-year-old is n’t the first five-star prospect and projected NBA star to arrive on campus with great fanfare. However, he is one of the first big college sports stars to capitalize on the changing NIL landscape and enter deals that were n’t previously available.
The Duke freshman had some shoe companies competing for his advertising services before he even entered college. After going through a lengthy process that included complex pitches and brainstorming sessions, New Balance chose Flagg, a privately held clothing company, over Nike and others.
When Nike and Adidas are associated with our industry, New Balance’s chief marketing officer Chris Davis stated in an interview that” we know it takes a special and unique character to mate with a challenger product like New Balance.” These people “get it” right away that they want to stand out from the competition and do stuff differently. One of them was unquestionably Cooper.

Flagg’s connections to New Balance started in youth. He grew up in Newport, Maine, about 30 yards from local production infrastructure for the company and a few days away from its Boston office. His family, Kelly, would go to the New Balance camp sales in Maine to perform back-to-school searching for the home. In his news business, which features him shooting hoops in his home, Flagg’s brand connection was emphasized.
We consider Cooper to be a model companion and indirectly a sports lover, despite the fact that the various brands were interested in him as well.
Flagg is Duke sport’s most overrated rookie since Zion Williamson’s wonderful 2018-2019 time that led to him being selected initially total in the NBA draft. However, Williamson was unable to capitalize on the start of the NIL era, which did n’t start until 2021. Flagg, who faced LeBron James this summer while participating in a game between the men’s national team and the men’s find team, is making the most of his opportunity.
Flagg may be featured in upcoming global brand and life strategies for New Balance, according to Davis. The McDonald’s All-American will also have the opportunity to collaborate with trendy manufacturers and promote different non-basketball goods and activities, including perhaps playing sport, which he enjoys doing when he’s not on the wood.
Flagg’s New Balance package is a perfect example of how entrenched sports marketing has been impacted by the NIL period. Prior to becoming a professional athlete, there was a strict emphasis on sponsoring elite athletes ‘ AAU groups and universities to ease their feelings about a company’s products. Flagg and other top college athletes have been able to connect with manufacturers that resonate with them thanks to this revolutionary era.

Even if they ca n’t wear their product on-court during games.
Given that Duke is a Nike college, Flagg is not permitted to wear New Balance on campus, but he may do so for different USA Basketball activities. This has become a regular occurrence during the NIL time. The Jordan Brand-sponsored Branch boys, who play college football at USC, are experiencing similar regulations. However, Davis claims that New Balance does n’t mind because it believes the time restriction is only temporary in comparison to the anticipated long-term partnership it will have with the NBA draft’s top lottery pick.
Flagg has a five-year offer that only includes the NIL support deal that famous professional athletes typically get. With the aid of limited college sports like former Stanford sun and Los Angeles Sparks ahead Cameron Brink, the brand’s first NIL deal in college basketball, New Balance, which initially entered the game with six-time All-Star quarterback Kawhi Leonard in 2018, is looking to expand its product to a wider audience.
New Balance has a history of promoting young basketball talent. Darius Bazley, a prospect, was signed to a multimillion dollar deal in 2018 by the company ( with reportedly up to$ 14 million in performance bonuses ), and the former top recruit ended up interning at the company in Boston rather than as he had intended. After being selected in the first round in 2019, Kazley switched to the NBA and started playing for four different teams.
Despite his limited success in the NBA, Davis claims that the company has no regrets about signing Bazley because he supports the brand’s “fiercely independent” philosophy and, like Flagg, aligns well based on his character. He claims that a New Balance athlete should work with people based on their personality and overall values, not whether they make All-Star Game appearances or struggle to make team rosters.
Because we’re so focused on who these athletes are as humans, he said,” we never make the wrong choice.”
Darius Garland, Jamal Murray, Tyrese Maxey, Zach Lavine, and Dejounte Murray are among New Balance’s current basketball rosters, which includes NBA legends like Dejounte Murray. Through its Klutch Athletics sub-brand, it also provides up-and-coming stars like University of Miami guard Jalil Bethea and five-star prospect Isiah Harwell.
A peculiar situation exists in the basketball category where brands from other brands like Nike and Adidas see an opening and are competing with players who are more interested in navigating a less-trodden path. One of the apparel companies looking to find their footing in a market where the incumbents are being challenged is Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid and Chinese company Anta, which sponsors Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving.
The landscape shift comes as other shoe manufacturers, like Hoka, are emerging, and Nike has been watching sales decline as it goes through executive transitions ( John Donahoe was replaced as CEO in September by Elliot Hill ). In contrast to New Balance, which generated about$ 6.5 billion in sales last year, the clothing industry giant still has a market cap of about$ 117 billion.
New Balance, which takes a “fewer, bigger, better” approach to sports marketing, wants to take advantage of not being a publicly traded company where market share and profits are top priorities. According to Davis, the boutique brand wants to increase profits like any other for-profit organization, especially as consumers seek out more creative options with fresh and unique voices. He continues, however, that does n’t influence the company’s strategy when looking for potential athletes to join the family.
The most crucial thing for us is to create the right product with the right storytelling, and employing the best athletes on the roster to best represent our brand,” he continued. We do n’t use market share or revenue to evaluate basketball’s success.