To be fair, Nike officials weren’t to know that Rory McIlroy was about to declare for Ireland’s Olympic team ahead of Rio 2016.
But that will come as scant consolation to the sports apparel giant who will be devastated to see one of their top athletes donning gear of rival company New Balance in Brazil.
Olympic Council of Ireland chief Pat Hickey has revealed that the Irish team offered the sponsorship opportunity to Nike but were turned down prior to McIlroy’s decision to attempt to secure Olympic gold for Ireland.
McIlroy is currently contracted to Nike in a five-year deal worth in the region of €100 million but, before he chose to represent Ireland rather than Great Britain in Rio, Nike’s UK branch rejected the chance to sponsor Ireland’s athletes.
The sponsorship opportunity was reportedly offered to Nike for a fee in the region of €2 million, a paltry sum when you consider the deals they splash out on professional sportspeople, and Hickey believes that those who made the decision to turn down the deal are now kicking themselves.
“Before Rory decided whether he’d declare for Team GB or Ireland we put our team gear out to contract,” Hickey said at the ‘100 days to Rio’ event in Dublin.
“Just in case he declared for us, we went to Nike in the UK and told them we might have Rory. But they just dismissed us out of hand and now they regret it, I believe.
“I’m told the Nike guys nearly collapsed when they heard what happened and that they’d missed a golden opportunity. Rory’s agent came to us and said, ‘What about Nike?’ And I said, ‘What about them? They had the opportunity and they missed it.'”
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