Dive Brief:

• Adidas is letting its decade-old deal with the National Basketball Association lapse without bidding on a renewal at the end of next season, the company said Monday.

• The NBA is opening the partnership up for bid, and the price tag is expected to exceed the $400-plus million deal between the sports association and the German apparel and gear retailer.

• Look for Nike, which already controls the vast majority of basketball footwear in the U.S., to be aggressive here in order to maintain its dominance and to ensure that up-and-comer Under Armour doesn't get that much more traction.

Dive Insight:

Adidas has struggled of late, slipping not just behind powerhouse Nike but also relative up-and-comer Under Armour. Although the decision to stay out of the bidding war leaves the retailer with just its uniform-supply deal for the National Hockey League, the NBA contract would probably be too dear, sources told the New York Times.

“It’s an enormously high-profile license,” Ira Mayer, a consultant to the licensing business and former owner of the trade journal The Licensing Letter, told the New York Times. “But once they did the math, it looked like it was going to be expensive. I’ve got to think that given that the rest of the business has not been doing well, the pressure is that much greater to make sure this would have been a deal that made sense.”