Adidas recently announced it is moving its NBA uniform factory from upstate New York to Thailand. The sportswear company has an exclusive contract with the NBA to make its uniforms.
But now, noted Adidas executive Chuck Schumer reversed the company's move, and decided that, based on his close, personal knowledge of the inner workings of the company, it would be best to keep the factory in the U.S.
Actually, that's not what happened. NBA commissioner Chuck Schumer decided to cancel Adidas's contract because he no longer wanted the NBA associating with a company that outsources U.S. jobs, and, through the powers invested in him by the league's owners, has the power to make that call.
Nope, that's stiill not what happened. The truth is, New York Senator Chuck Schumer became to the NBA what Arlen Specter is to the NFL and John McCain is to Major League Baseball. Read his office's announcement.
“It is flat wrong for Adidas to move the production of jerseys worn by NBA players outside the United States when there are U.S. companies that have done this work so well and for so long,” said Schumer. “And to do it in this economic climate adds insult to injury. Basketball is a marquee American sport and the NBA is its premier stage. A short-sighted decision to destroy over a hundred years of history by moving production of game jerseys overseas just cannot stand.
Schumer is another entry in a long line of politicians who apparently believe professional sports should be run by the government, and that they have the right to tell individual private organizations what they can and cannot do.
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Jerry Chin of CA 2:18AM September 17, 2010
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CSH 1:24PM November 29, 2009