Nike Nabs Team Takeover

Ron Bailey, Publisher

September 15, 2008 – With the establishment of Team Takeover last month, that organization’s founder and head coach Keith Stevens shook up boys grassroots/travel team basketball in the Capital Region, if not the East Coast. The entire extent just got clearer.

“We’ve chosen Nike as a sponsor” shared Stevens early this morning, of a decision that took several weeks and was finalized Saturday night. Over that period of time, Stevens said he deliberated with “Pretty much the whole grassroots department before we hashed out the details”, which include “sponsoring the entire program”. Team Takeover will field teams in the 11 through 17 under age groups, which of course includes practice and skill development efforts.

Stevens identified the “Stability and support” Nike provides as the reasons it was chosen; A sport shoe/wear behemoth headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, Nike earned more than 16 billion in 2007 revenue, placing it as world’s number one maker of sports apparel and shoes.

Team Takeover, according to Stevens, will definitely participate in “two or three Nike tournaments a year”, in addition to other travel team confabs. As the only Nike grassroots franchise in the Washington, DC area, the organization is eligible to compete in Nike events such as the Peach Jam, Boo Williams, and Memorial Day Classic, invitation only tourneys.

On the East Coast, a number of talent packed ‘Swoosh’ backed teams will compete with Team Takeover, including: Nike Baltimore Elite, Boo Williams (Tidewater, VA), Team Final (Philly) Gauchos and Metro Hawks (NYC area), Albany Rocks (NY), Charlotte Royals, Georgia Stars, Team Stat (Florida), South Carolina Ravens, and BABC (Boston).

Formerly Nike sponsored the DC Blue Devils, in the Washington area.