Cville athlete and Cville company team up.
Reece signs a NIL deal with Rhoback.
Here is Reeces discount link where fans can support him as he receives commission.
Reece’s Discount Link: https://bit.ly/3RrY9oE
When I click into a product from that link its not clear that it’s still associated with him. Any idea if following links from his commission page will still work to get him commish? Gotta do some holiday shopping.
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Would it be a fever dream if Rhoback exploded into a UA sized company and we became their Maryland?
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Yes. Mainly because Plank put UM at the center of UA from the get. Rhoback hasn’t gone all in like that.
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I’ve seen some uva logo gear that some of the kids wear and coaches. Are those things available to the public?
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0.0% chance
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Given that they started with other school athletes, would agree that’s unlikely:
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UA does over $5 billion of revenue. I would be surprised if Rhoback does more than $20 million. It’s a niche golf/preppy apparel company. The athletic/footwear market is huge and lends itself to higher concentration.
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I also think the market is flush with companies like Rhoback right now. When UA started, there weren’t many competitors.
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I mean, yes and no. UA had a couple of things going for it when it started. First, they actually introduced a disruptive product. Their first SKUs were basically the moisture-wicking fabric you now see everywhere. Those products didn’t really exist in the late 90s, and they were better performing than the basic cotton tee-shirts athletes wore under their pads/jerseys at the time. Second, plank had athlete friends that helped him build adoption with pro athletes without having to pay endorsement money at first (because the product was better). Third, UA came up at a time when wholesale (i.e. selling to foot locker, sporting goods chains, department stores, etc.) was the best way to acquire customers and build scale. Once he had scale, he was able to pay endorsement money, which juiced growth. Unfortunately, he was basically competing with Nike, which quickly copied the products and has a lot more money to pay endorsement money. UA has basically collapsed under the weight of those endorsement deals and slowing revenue growth. It’s been in turnaround mode for like 6 years.
Since the internet became a thing, a company like Rhoback can establish some degree of scale by operating a DTC model, acquiring customers through SEO/facebook, etc. and skipping or minimizing wholesale exposure, which can create all sorts of issues around inventory. But, yeah, there are a ton of companies just like it, all competing for the same customers. Very few brands have been able to cross $1 billion in revenue. Some of the most successful ones can get to a couple hundred million in sales before fashion turns against them and they die.
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Their founders explicitly stated in an interview that they envision a somewhat similar path as UA and UVA athletics will be central to that.
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This is a good summary.
Rhoback has really done a tremendous job but the ceiling is probably limited. I bet they’ve been approached by someone like Callaway to sell the business/brand. Somehow someway, they’ve actually been able to differentiate in a market that has almost become commoditized. Sustaining that will be tough.
Still, they have room to grow and their growth over the past 2 years or so has been remarkable. UVA/UVIMCO should have invested early. Someone is going to buy this thing (and likely overpay but the investors/founders will be far & happy).
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I mean, it was a hypothetical. The if part was the given and the then part was to be validated. Obviously the if part has an infinitesimal chance of happening, but thanks for the case study explanation I guess?
If someone on LRA won the billion dollar lottery, would they fund the football program? No one needs to explain how unlikely it is to win a billion dollar lottery or how the winner doesn’t actually get a billion in cash.
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Ok, well, sorry for raining on your parade then. I guess we’ve at least established that if impossible is nothing, then rhoback will protect this house.
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Fund it? I’m buying back my eligibility and lining up under center for 5 games each season
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We all know your first order of business would be buying the equipment needed to demolish the AFC.
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Yea that building would be gone before the check cleared.
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I used the link and when u checkout, the code was entered and i got a discount.
I’ll give u guys a review when it comes in!
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It was a perfectly reasonable comparison. UA was the first mover which is why they were able to get so big but they’ve also been a phenomenally poorly run company for the past decade.
I bet they’ll be an HBS case study on what not to do. They had great products, and an unbelievable brand and they completely fumbled the bag. Overextended themselves in trying to do everything mediocrely.
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It was very simple. No one likes their shoes
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