The Nike swoosh is everywhere at Washington. You'll find it on the chest of every football jersey when the Huskies tackle UCLA on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. It's on countless hats and shirts at University Bookstore, and on each singlet, uniform and shoe on every varsity athlete. Barbara Hedges, as athletic director in the mid-1990s, sought marketing power and ancillary benefits in a partnership with a certain global shoe and apparel giant based in suburban Portland. Hedges retired in 2004; the Nike alliance is one of the lasting vestiges of her tenure. "She could see that this partnership with Nike would be of great benefit to the athletic department," said Paul King, the UW's senior associate athletic director for business and finance. "Not only in terms of the monetary benefit to the department, but also in the exposure it would bring.
|