Nike is in trouble. At least its shareholders are experiencing some trouble right now after a major stock crash on Monday.
Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi reported a major downturn for the athletic apparel brand as the stock market opened the week of August 17. Of course, Nike is not only the uniform supplier of the University of Oregon, but its CEO Phil Knight is the biggest NIL donor for the Ducks.
"A Wall Street that's mostly bullish on Nike (NKE) continues to be proven dead wrong about the athletic-wear giant's stock price," Sozzi wrote. "Nike stock collapsed to its lowest level since September 2024 on Monday, dropping more than 4% to below $40, per Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace data. The stock has crashed about 78% from its all-time high in 2021."
Is this a bearish downturn for one of Ohio State's major competitors on the field and on the recruiting trail?
In short, no.
Phil Knight donates to Oregon's NIL efforts, but Nike does not
Knight has done what most billionaires have done, which is move assets over from his company to a family trust. It's from that account that NIL checks are cut to Oregon players. That account is barely affected by the downturn of the company's public stock.
$28 billion in market value was wiped out for the company's shareholders on Monday, but the billionaire owner's family's wealth is mostly protected. Even though their wealth was built by assets from said company. What a world.
Nike isn't cutting checks to Ducks recruits and commits. The company is cutting checks to all of the sponsored athletes, though, like the Buckeyes trio of receiver Chris Henry Jr., running back Bo Jackson, and cornerback Jermaine Matthews Jr. It's not like the company is going under, but you do have to wonder how it will overcome this downturn when it has so many athletes on payroll for sponsorships.
Oregon isn't going anywhere
Since Dan Lanning was hired, Oregon has not lost to a team that didn't make the national championship game since his first year. His program lost to Washington twice in 2023, Ohio State in the 2024/2025 CFP, and Indiana in the regular season and CFP in 2025/2026. This is a program that's knocking at the door of its first national championship. After watching the Hoosiers get over the hump last season, Lanning must be licking his chops with an even more talented and experienced roster this year.
The money isn't going anywhere. Eugene will be a premier landing spot for recruits indefinitely. If the rest of Phil Knight's family has the same passion for the program, the Ducks will be competitive long after he's gone. There may not be a stopping point for Oregon's spending power in that case.
It'd be nice for the Buckeyes to deal with one less massive spender in the Big Ten, but Nike's financial woes won't be what takes down the mighty Ducks. Knight has his money already, and Oregon is going to get it moving forward, regardless of his 21% equity in Nike taking a hit.
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