Adidas teamed up with connected fitness brand Peloton to create a performance wear and lifestyle apparel collection slated for a March 25 release.

As the world navigates remaining limits on physical closeness, an Adidas representative told Front Office Sports the partnership will emphasize “the togetherness of sport.”

Peloton instructors Robin Arzon, Cody Rigsby, and Ally Love — all Adidas ambassadors — assisted in designing the pieces. “Knowing that our community is so diverse and leaning into that concept was truly the inspiration,” said Love. 

Peloton will offer a series of classes next week celebrating the launch, and the companies will create content together for the Peloton app and the Adidas Creators Club loyalty program.

Previously, Peloton partnered with Nike and Lululemon, and it sold 600,000 units of branded apparel last quarter. In February, the connected fitness company reported that its fiscal Q2 2021 was its first $1 billion quarter.

Earlier this month, Adidas reported a 53% bump in online sales for its fourth quarter. Prices for the 11-piece adidas x Peloton SS21 collection range from $30 to $85.

As the Big Dance tips off, athletes on more than 15 teams have protested NCAA rules that prohibit them from being paid by flooding Twitter with the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty.

“The NCAA OWNS my name, image, and likeness,” Rutgers guard Geo Baker tweeted from inside the March Madness bubble. “For [people] who say ‘an athletic scholarship is enough.’ Anything less than equal rights is never enough.”

On March 16, players from more than a “dozen” March Madness teams met over Zoom with an athlete advocacy group called the National College Players Association to plan the protest, the NCPA said in a statement.

They came up with a list of demands. 

Athletes want NIL rights by July 1 and meetings with NCAA President Mark Emmert and state and federal lawmakers. They also asked that the Supreme Court not give the NCAA the ability to “deny…equal freedoms” in the upcoming case, NCAA v. Alston.

“The players and the NCPA are using the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty to underscore their concern that the NCAA too often treats college athletes like dollar signs rather than people,” the statement read.

Lawmakers plan to meet the July 1 deadline, whether the NCAA does or not. On that date, a Florida law allowing college athletes to profit off NIL takes effect. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has said Congress will also pass federal legislation by then.

Club Brugge sits atop the Belgian Pro League standings, but its pitch to investors is less about the quality of the team and more about the value of its individual players.

Brugge is set for an initial public offering later this month. Its investor group will sell 30% of the club in shares at a valuation of roughly $273 million.

While other clubs like Ajax, Dortmund, Juventus, and Manchester United have publicly listed shares, those clubs have more conventional models of appealing to fans with star players and winning teams. Brugge takes a different tack, acting as the feeder team for European clubs that will pay handsomely to borrow top talent.

“We are making stars,” said Bart Verhaeghe, chairman of investor group Grizzly Sports NV, which is selling the shares. “Other teams are consuming stars.”

The club netted $33.5 million from $71.7 million in player transfer revenues in the 2019-2020 season and have added a net $19.5 million to its coffers through transfers this season. Most of this season’s haul came from the January transfer of 21-year-old Krépin Diatta to French club Monaco for $18.4 million. 

“We have a unique way of making players the best version of themselves, and we are dominant in the local market,” Verhaeghe said.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, club profits grew 148% to $28.8 million.