[lafountain]

Anyone want to buy a hockey company?

http://www.thehockey...sp?idNews=25822

[JeffB]

"Nike Bauer took in more than $160 million in revenue last year."

Hell, sign me up for a piece of that. I'll buy it.

[villavelocity]

This was in the works for awhile.
Nike's marketing company was unable to come up with the proper campaigns to upgrade the staus and perception of the Bauer brand outside of NA.
Nike has also always felt that hockey was a regional sport and would never grow beyond its current size.
Bauer has ALWAYS been a leader in skates,sticks and all hockey related equipment.Nikes acquisition only benefitted Bauer in R&D , marketing and i would imagine financial security.

My greatest source of disdain with NBH was the fact that they outsourced almost all the equipment production, including many of the pro lines, to China.
One would imagine that this outsourcing would drop prices for their products but this was not the case.

All pro level gear by every other manufacturer is produced in Canada.Most hand built.


I hope that a company with long term vison acquires the brand an takes care of it properly.

[ZoomZoom18]

villavelocity, on Sep 23 2007, 09:20 PM, said:

This was in the works for awhile.
Nike's marketing company was unable to come up with the proper campaigns to upgrade the staus and perception of the Bauer brand outside of NA.
Nike has also always felt that hockey was a regional sport and would never grow beyond its current size.
Bauer has ALWAYS been a leader in skates,sticks and all hockey related equipment.Nikes acquisition only benefitted Bauer in R&D , marketing and i would imagine financial security.

My greatest source of disdain with NBH was the fact that they outsourced almost all the equipment production, including many of the pro lines, to China.
One would imagine that this outsourcing would drop prices for their products but this was not the case.

All pro level gear by every other manufacturer is produced in Canada.Most hand built.
I hope that a company with long term vison acquires the brand an takes care of it properly.

It doesn't surprise me one bit. There's always been rumours of Nike running sweatshops or moving their factories to Indonesia because the labor is cheaper. IMO, before Bauer became involved with Nike, their stuff was top-notch. I loved my Bauer gloves I used to use when I played. Their jerseys were also good. Both Bauer authentics I have are of great quality. I never dealt too much with hockey equipment after they became part of Nike to know what the quality of their equipment was.

In all honesty, I hope someday Reebok sells CCM, Koho, and whichever other company they bought out so those companies can focus more on making quality equipment for the overall good of the sport. Reebok has always appeared to me to gotten into hockey as just another way to add more money to the company. Of course that's the goal of any company, but I have never felt like they put enough support for the overall good of the sport. Its always about a catchy phrase, or flashy gear, or jerseys that make a player 8% faster. I know you all hear me gripe about Reebok a lot, but after seeing what they've done to the quality of NFL replica jerseys, I've never liked Reebok being involved with hockey. Even more after watching the price of NFL gear go up over the years. If its got that Vector logo, the price goes up. I'm curious to see how my Reebok authentics last over the course of time. Yes I know I do own two Reebok authentics, but the only thing I can say about that is 1# The new Ducks jerseys were only made by Reebok in authentic and 2# Had the Coyotes CCM authentic jersey from 03-04 I was looking at at Just Sports in Westgate not had a big stain on it...well I'd have gotten that one. I was also curious to see how the Reebok authentics were. I love my Ducks jersey, but had it been offered in authentic in CCM, I'd have that one.

Speaking as a hockey fan and former player, I've always preferred that hockey gear should be made in places like Canada, the Northern US, even places in Europe that know hockey and appreciates what players need and want and not about making some clever marketing gimmick so more people buy your product. I have no problem paying top dollar for equipment, if I feel confident in the manufacturer. That's why I used to love Bauer and CCM.

I'm really big on the name in a sense of how that company presents themselves. Reebok is too corporate for me.