Why Nike Is Betting Big on Sport Again

Key Takeaways: 

• Nike’s sport-first strategy under CEO Elliott Hill refocuses the brand on athletic performance and product innovation over lifestyle fashion.
• Tighter pricing discipline and fewer online promotions seek to restore Nike’s profit margins and stabilize shrinking sales.
• Major Nike sports partnerships — outfitting 12 FIFA World Cup teams and a long-term NBA deal — anchor a 20-year growth plan.

For years, Nike was the cutting edge of gear for both athletes and fans. Need new high-performance running shoes? Nike. Looking for a new NBA jersey or English Premier League kit? Nike. The brand was the leader in everything sports and seemed untouchable. However, recently they’ve lost a little bit of their mojo. Long-time competitors like Adidas have gained ground while niche companies like Hoka and On have heavily encroached on the shoe market. That’s why the leadership shakeup last year did not come as a big surprise to many.

With CEO Elliott Hill now at the helm, the brand is steering away from pure lifestyle fashion toward athletic performance, renewed partnerships, and product-first innovation.

The goal is simple. Rebuild revenue, reclaim market share and restore long-term momentum.

What Is Nike’s Sport-First Strategy?

Hill’s message comes down to two words: sport first. He told FOX Business that Nike “had become more lifestyle-oriented, more fashion-oriented” and now needs to re-anchor around athletic performance.

“When we focus on sport, we win,” Hill said on “The Claman Countdown.” For those that miss the old Nike, that is an easy line to sell to fans of the purposeful, performance-led Nike of old.

This pivot isn’t to try and prey on nostalgia, though. It’s a direct reaction to the results of the past few years. Hill, who stepped in as CEO in 2024 after originally retiring from the company in 2020, has even restructured the company around individual sports — running, basketball, global football — rather than by women’s, men’s, and kids. That shift lets teams dig into what each athlete actually needs and build products around it.

How Lifestyle Drift Hurt Nike’s Margins

Hill has admitted that a flood of online promotions hurt profitability in recent years. So moving forward, expect fewer discounts, sharper product lines, and renewed focus on full-price launches.

For shoppers, that means fewer surprises and more considered drops where the product does the talking. Expect higher initial prices but longer-lasting designs and clearer performance benefits.

“I feel really good about the work the team has done, but like everything, what happens next is revenue, market share and share price follows,” Hill said. “So, it’s a sequential improvement, and I feel much better about the foundation of our business.”

Betting Big on a Global Platform

A huge part of the plan is visibility on sport’s biggest stages. Nike will outfit 12 national teams at the FIFA World Cup, including the United States, France and Brazil. It also holds a long-term partnership with the NBA.

Nike is betting that these licensing deals will serve as narrative platforms where product, athlete, and culture collide. Nike recently released a star-studded World Cup ad featuring cameos from Cristiano Ronaldo, Jason Sudeikis and Travis Scott to build excitement for the tournament.

Hill calls soccer one of the company’s “biggest opportunities.” He also points to Nike’s 31-year relationship with the U.S. Soccer Federation as the tournament heads to home soil. “It’s this collision of sport and culture,” he said. That collision is the whole point.

The Bottom Line on Nike’s Return to Sport

Nike isn’t reinventing itself. It’s remembering what made it Nike in the first place. Hill is leaning on the brand’s heritage — athletes, innovation and big-game drama — to drive the next chapter.

The recovery won’t happen overnight, and the stock may lag the strategy for a while. But the foundation is taking shape. For fans, that means sleeker gear and sharper storytelling. For Nike, it’s a bet that sport, done right, still wins.

“We’re not managing the business for this quarter or next quarter,” Hill said. “We’re managing it for the long term, and we’re setting this business up for the next 20-year run.”