This document outlines a marketing research project analyzing fan perceptions of the University of Nebraska's sponsorship agreement with Adidas. The project examines Nebraska fans' satisfaction with Adidas apparel and whether they would prefer a different sponsor like Nike. Surveys were administered to gauge fan opinions on comfort, style, and other factors relating to Adidas and alternative brands. Six hypotheses were tested using statistical analysis, finding that most fans prefer Nike over Adidas and consider Nike apparel more compatible with active lifestyles. The research recommends UNL consider changing its sponsorship when the Adidas contract expires based on results suggesting greater fan support may come from partnering with Nike or Under Armour instead.

1. MRKT 345 PROJECT
By: JasmineAlexander

2. BACKGROUND
 Adidas is a popular athletic sports brand multinational corporation based and
founded in Herzogenaurach, Germany
 Adidas has been the athletic sponsor with the University of Nebraska since 1995
and their current contract extends through 2018
 All fans are allowed to purchase and wear Nebraska sponsored Adidas apparel.
When fans wear their apparel throughout the world, they are globally marketing
the Nebraska Cornhusker brand
 Student-athletes, staff and employees who are working and given Adidas
sponsored clothing are required to only wear Adidas and make sure the Adidas
logo is made visible
 Recreation center, faculty in the athletic department, front desk associates

3. METHODOLOGY

4. OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH
 Gather data on the different responses with the relationships between Adidas
athletic apparel and the University of Nebraska sponsorship
 Clothes, shoes, equipment and other accessories provided by Adidas are provided
to all student athletes across 24 sports teams in addition to staff and athletic
department personnel. All of the apparel offered to Nebraska students and staff
are also available to the public for sale
 Study was created to gain insight into the perspective how student athletes,
personnel and fans alike feel about the long partnership between Adidas and the
University of Nebraska

5. POPULATION UNDER STUDY
 study the population of the Nebraska fan base who wear Adidas sponsored
Nebraska athletic clothing
 Article on Omaha.com about the 2016 alternate uniforms being revealed:
 “Ugh!! Send 'em back!” and “Nebraska needs to learn to say no to Adidas. All of the
alternative uniforms over the years have looked ridiculous and now this one is the worst.
You don't need gimmicks to lure recruits, you need to win games! Alabama doesn't do
this kind of crap”
 Large sample of Nebraska fans who care about their overall health and well being, the
two overlapping variables of being a Nebraska athletics fan and purchasing clothing for
their active lifestyles create a strong factor in the decision to purchase Nebraska
sponsored clothing.

6. SAMPLING PROCEDURE
 Chose to keep my interview participants within people who were of the similar
familiarity with the University of Nebraska andAdidas partnership
 Co-workers at the recreation and wellness center, bible study group through the
Nebraska athletic department consisting of all women track athletes, family members
 Used one in-depth interview early on in the research process. Secondly, I sent a
survey link to the different people listed above to participate in my research.
 After deleting errors, sample came to be 34

7. METHOD IMPLEMENTATION
 UsedQualtrics to administer the survey and SPSS to generate the statistical data from the surveys
 Variables used on different tests:
1. “Nebraska fans prefer not to have Adidas as the Universities athletic sponsor”
 “Are you a Nebraska fan?” and “I agree that Adidas should remain the athletic sponsor at UNL”
2. “Current Nebraska fans want to change to Nike as the athletic sponsor”
 Are you a Nebraska fan? I agree thatAdidas should remain the athletic sponsor at UNL;When you think of Nike, what
comes to mind?
3. “Nonathletic Nebraska fans would rather keep Adidas as an athletic sponsor”
 Are you a Nebraska fan? as the dependent variable; I agree that Adidas should remain the athletic sponsor at UNL;Would
you consider yourself to be athletic? as the independent variables
4. “Athletic Nebraska fans consider Nike or Adidas to be more compatible to their daily active lifestyles”
 Are you a Nebraska fan?Would you consider yourself to be athletic?; How often do you exercise wearing athletic
apparel?; D you currently own any Nike or UA products?;When you think of Nike, what comes to mind? (comfort); When
you think of UA, what comes to mind? (comfort)? I also chose to base my dependent variable on the variable, “Are you a
Nebraska fan?
5. “Nebraska fans want to keep their apparel simple and prefer Adidas to stay true to their simplistic style of apparel”
6. “Nebraska fans do not have a preference on their overall satisfaction with who Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.”
 Are you a Nebraska fan? and How much do athletic sponsorships influence overall satisfaction of an academic institution?

8. FINDINGS

9. HYPOTHESISTESTS
1. Null: Nebraska fans prefer not to haveAdidas as the Universities athletic sponsor.
Alternative: Nebraska fans prefer to have Adidas as the Universities athletic sponsor.
2. Null: Current Nebraska fans want to change to Nike as the athletic sponsor.
Alternative: Nebraska fans do not want to change to Nike as the athletic sponsor.
3. Null: Nonathletic Nebraska fans would rather keepAdidas as an athletic sponsor.
Alternative: Nonathletic Nebraska fans would rather not keepAdidas as an athletic sponsor.
4. Null:Athletic Nebraska fans consider Nike or Under Armour to be more compatible to their daily active lifestyles.
Alternative:Athletic Nebraska fans do not consider Nike or Under Armour to be more compatible to their daily active lifestyles.
5. Null: Nebraska fans want to keep their apparel simple and prefer Adidas to stay true to their simplistic style of apparel.
Alternative: Nebraska fans want to keep their apparel simple and prefer Nike or Under Armour to stay true to their simplistic style of
apparel.
6. Null: Nebraska fans do not have a preference on their overall satisfaction with who Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.
Alternative: Nebraska fans have a preference on their overall satisfaction with who Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.

10. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND
INTERPRETATIONS

11. TEST 1: NEBRASKA FANS PREFER NOTTO HAVE
ADIDAS ASTHE UNIVERSITIES ATHLETIC SPONSOR
Null: Nebraska fans prefer not to have
Adidas as the Universities athletic sponsor.
 An inverse association (-.115)
between the two variables “Are you a
Nebraska fan?” and “I agree that
Adidas should remain the athletic
sponsor at UNL”
 Accept the null hypothesis as the p-
value for this test is .562 (> 0.05).
 We can conclude that Nebraska fans
prefer not to have Adidas as the
Universities athletic sponsor.
Alternative: Nebraska fans prefer to have Adidas as the
Universities athletic sponsor.
Correlation Analysis
Are you a
Nebraska
Huskers fan?
I agree that
Adidas should
remain the
University of
Nebraska’s
athletic
sponsor
Are you a Nebraska Huskers
fan?
Pearson Correlation 1 -.115
Sig. (2-tailed) .562
N 28 28
I agree that Adidas should
remain the University of
Nebraska’s athletic
sponsor
Pearson Correlation -.115 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .562
N
28 28

12. TEST 2: CURRENT NEBRASKA FANS WANTTO
CHANGETO NIKE ASTHE ATHLETIC SPONSOR
Null: Current Nebraska fans want to
change to Nike as the athletic sponsor.
 The R Squared = .399.Therefore, we can accept the null
hypothesis for this test meaning with 40% confidence,
and reject the alternative hypothesis.
 Different variables throughout this study show different
levels of correlation within the test that are significant
to the hypothesis.
 The variables ranked in highest to lowest order based
off of their significance levels from the test results with
current Nebraska fans agreeing that Nebraska should
switch to Nike as the athletic sponsor (.961), consider
Nike’s popularity as a factor (.927), consider Nike’s
prestige as a factor (.841) consider Nike’s comfort for
athletics and working out (.055) and consider Nike’s
style (.031).
 Overall Nebraska fans would highly accept Nike as
being the Universities athletics sponsor.
Alternative: Nebraska fans do not want
to change to Nike as the athletic
sponsor.
Multiple Regression
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 4.221 1.010 4.179 .000
I agree that Adidas should
remain the University of
Nebraska’s athletic
sponsor
.006 .126 .009 .049 .961
When you think of Nike,
what comes to mind? -
Better Comfort for
Athletics/Working Out
.379 .187 .438 2.031 .055
When you think of Nike,
what comes to mind? - Style
-.952 .412 -.752 -2.311 .031
When you think of Nike,
what comes to mind? -
Popularity
.014 .146 .021 .093 .927
When you think of Nike,
what comes to mind? -
Prestige
-.050 .247 -.048 -.203 .841

13. TEST 3: NONATHLETIC NEBRASKA FANSWOULD RATHER
KEEP ADIDAS AS AN ATHLETIC SPONSOR
Null: Nonathletic Nebraska fans would
rather keep Adidas as an athletic sponsor.
 The R squared=.038.Therefore, we can
reject the null hypothesis and accept the
alternative hypothesis with 38%
confidence
 .We can conclude that Nonathletic
Nebraska fans would rather not keep
Adidas as an athletic sponsor.
 The variables in relation to the dependent
variable “Are you a Nebraska fan” were
however, greater than 0.05 with I agree
that Adidas should remain the athletic
sponsor at UNL (.640) andWould you
consider yourself to be athletic (.428).
Alternative: Nonathletic Nebraska fans
would rather not keep Adidas as an athletic
sponsor.
Multiple Regression
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.310 .527 2.484 .020
I agree that Adidas should
remain the University of
Nebraska’s athletic
sponsor
-.059 .124 -.094 -.473 .640
Would you consider yourself
to be athletic?
.106 .132 .160 .806 .428
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
1 .195a
.038 -.039 .737

14. TEST 4: ATHLETIC NEBRASKA FANS CONSIDER NIKE
OR UNDER ARMORTO BE MORE COMPATIBLETOTHEIR
DAILY ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
Null: Athletic Nebraska fans consider Nike or
Under Armour to be more compatible to their
daily active lifestyles.
 R squared equaling .092.Therefore, we can accept the
null hypothesis.We can conclude that Athletic Nebraska
fans consider Nike or Under Armour to be more
compatible to their daily active lifestyles.
 The different variables throughout this study show
different levels of correlation within the test that are
significant to the hypothesis.The variables were all
greater than 0.05 signifying they have a strong
correlation to the dependent variable, “Are you a
Nebraska fan”.
 The variables ranked in highest to lowest order based
off of their significance levels from the test results
Under Armour having the higher comfort rating
significance (.834), Nebraska fans who exercise often
(.770), Nike having a high comfort rating significance
(.632), taking into account the respondents level of
athleticism (.489, ) respondents who currently own
Nike or Under Armour (.459).
Alternative: Athletic Nebraska fans do not
consider Nike or Under Armour to be more
compatible to their daily active lifestyles.
Multiple Regression
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 1.945 1.881 1.034 .314
I agree that Adidas should
remain the University of
Nebraska’s athletic
sponsor
-.168 .170 -.247 -.990 .334
Would you consider yourself
to be athletic?
.120 .170 .181 .705 .489
How often do you exercise
wearing athletic apparel?
-.041 .137 -.082 -.297 .770
Do you currently own any
Nike or Under Armour
products?
-.715 .945 -.188 -.757 .458
When you think of Nike,
what comes to mind? -
Better Comfort For
Athletics/Working Out
.098 .201 .113 .487 .632
When
you think of Under Armour,
what comes to mind? -
Better Comfort For
.046 .216 .053 .212 .834
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
1 .303a .092 -.181 .797

15. TEST 5: NEBRASKA FANS WANTTO KEEPTHEIR
APPAREL SIMPLE AND PREFER ADIDASTO STAYTRUE
TOTHEIR SIMPLISTIC STYLE OF APPAREL
Null: Nebraska fans want to keep their
apparel simple and prefer Adidas to stay
true to their simplistic style of apparel.
 There is no evidence for this
hypothesis.
 No variables supported this
hypothesis for accuracy
Alternative: Nebraska fans want to
keep their apparel simple and prefer
Nike or Under Armour to stay true
to their simplistic style of apparel.

16. TEST 6: NEBRASKA FANS DO NOT HAVE A
PREFERENCE ONTHEIR OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH
WHO NEBRASKA’S ATHLETIC SPONSOR WOULD BE
Null: Nebraska fans do not have a preference
on their overall satisfaction with who
Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.
 Inverse association (-.314) between the two
variables “Are you a Nebraska fan?” and
“How much do athletic sponsorships
influence overall satisfaction of an academic
institution?”
 As the value on either one of these variables
increases, the value on the other variable
decreases.
 I can also accept the null hypothesis as the
p-value for this test is .111.
 We can conclude that Nebraska fans do not
have a preference on their overall satisfaction
with who Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would
be.
Alternative: Nebraska fans have a preference
on their overall satisfaction with who
Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.
Correlation Analysis
Correlations
Are you a
Nebraska
Huskers fan?
How much do
athletic
sponsorships
influence overall
satisfaction of
an academic
institution?
Are you a Nebraska Huskers
fan?
Pearson Correlation 1 -.314
Sig. (2-tailed) .111
N 28 27
How much do athletic
sponsorships influence
overall satisfaction of an
academic institution?
Pearson Correlation -.314 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .111
N
27 27

17. CONCLUSIONS
 1. Nebraska fans prefer not to have Adidas as the Universities athletic sponsor.
 2. Over these three variables: better comfort, popularity and prestige, Nebraska fans
would highly accept Nike as being the Universities athletics sponsor.
 3. Nonathletic Nebraska fans would rather not keep Adidas as an athletic sponsor.
 4. Athletic Nebraska fans consider Nike or Under Armour to be more compatible to
their daily active lifestyles.
 5. Nebraska fans do not have a preference on their overall satisfaction with who
Nebraska’s athletic sponsor would be.

18. RECOMMENDATIONS
 Most colleges and universities with athletic programs have contractual agreements made and
money paid to an athletic brand to supply the apparel and equipment.
 Decisions are made by the head of the athletic department for their designated school which is
usually the known as the Athletic Director. University of Nebraska’s athletic director is Shawn
Eichorst.This information I gathered from my data would be very beneficial for Shawn Eichorst
and the rest of his staff to consider looking into changing after the 2018 season when the
contract with Adidas expires. Should consider this change to Nike or Under Armour from
Adidas in the near future to increase the brand of the University of Nebraska and what it
represents.
 All five of my hypotheses that were tested through statistical measures prove that Nebraska
student-athletes, employees and fans alike show support in favor of switching the athletic
sponsorship to either Nike or Under Armour as it has been tested to be more compatible with
their daily lifestyles and preferences for what they most look for in athletic brands for their
specified purposes.
 My results show there is a reason to believe that a change in athletic sponsorship could even
increase support for the teams for those fans who feel very strongly about the support and
representation of the teams they wish to cheer on.

19. LIMITATIONS
 There were a handful of respondents who answered either “maybe” or “no” to the
question. “Are you a Nebraska fan?”This question was probably the most
important question on the survey because it was the dependent variable
throughout most of my studies.
 As I have stated above in my background piece, my purpose for wanting to do this
survey was to see if Nebraska fans who buy and wear the athletic sponsored clothing
would want to switch to another brand. If people who took this survey are not Nebraska
fans, their opinion would not matter or be relevant to my overall hypothesis.

20. THANKYOU!