St. John’s meteoric return to national prominence in college basketball under coach Rick Pitino has made it a very desirable investment. It’s the reason the sneaker and apparel giant adidas sought to make the Red Storm its first college partner that doesn’t have a Bowl Championship Subdivision football program.

They unveiled their new partnership on Monday through a video posted on social media platforms that featured Pitino, as well as several Storm players, in adidas gear sitting on a bench and each opening a newspaper with the front page headline “ADIDAS EYES RED STORM.”

As part of the partnership, St. John’s will receive a major investment in their athletics department and student-athletes will have an avenue to a company program that will give them opportunities to earn NIL money doing endorsements. Two players — Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon — already are part of the program.

“This is a period of time where it’s all about revenue generation for college athletics and all about NIL and adidas gets it,” St. John’s AD Ed Kull told Newsday. “[It] has a whole program that’s focused around NIL and giving dollars for endorsement deals to student-athletes. And they understand for the school the challenges of revenue sharing and generating money and they really stepped up. And . . . want to be all in.”

Nike, the previous outfitter for St. John’s, has reduced its portfolio for outfitting college programs and, though it had the opportunity to counter adidas’ offer to St. John’s, chose not to, Kull said.

“I know we’ve changed brands over the years — from Jordan Brand to Nike Elite to Under Armour to Nike now this — but it’s truly in our best interest we have a partner that is investing in us and building with us. Nike was not doing that.”

The appeal of St. John’s playing in the New York market  made the partnership even more appealing to the shoe giant. The Red Storm will play at least a dozen games next season at Madison Square Garden. 

“Partnering with a renowned institution in St. John’s University represents an exciting moment for adidas,” adidas Vice President of Sports Marketing Chris McGuire said in a school-issued statement. “As a powerhouse with deep roots and big ambition, they match our drive to push limits and shape the future of sport.”

The flagship men’s and women’s basketball programs will have game-day uniforms, footwear, apparel and equipment for training and competition designed by adidas.

St. John’s fans can buy Red Storm merchandise from adidas online already and the men’s basketball program will be part of an event on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the recently relaunched adidas Brand store at 610 Broadway in Manhattan.

“This move to adidas was the worst-kept secret, but the holdup in the launch was making sure that we launched and you could buy [gear] right away,” Kull said.

Kull also said that fans who were frustrated about the lack of availability of the various official Nike uniforms will be offered a wider variety, including alternate uniforms, though he couldn’t give details yet on the Felipe Lopez-era throwbacks.

Kull said fans will eventually see a one-stop shop where they will be able to purchase one of the uniforms that are personalized with their favorite players’ names and numbers. 

Roger Rubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.