Nike reported a 10% drop in revenue for its fiscal first quarter after market close on Tuesday, in line with estimates it provided last quarter. Revenues came in at $11.6 billion. The sports apparel giant said that given the company is reporting Q1 results amid a CEO transition, it will “address its approach to guidance on the conference call. In addition, the Company’s previously announced Investor Day is being postponed.”

After reporting disappointing fourth-quarter earnings in June and cutting full-year guidance, Wall Street’s expectations for the period were already lower.

Analysts expected revenue of $11.65 billion for the quarter, according to financial market data provider LSEG, compared with $12.93 billion in revenue notched in first-quarter 2023—a 10% drop. Nike reported 70-cent earnings per share, ahead of analyst expectations of 52 cents.

The sneaker giant’s efforts to drive more sales through its direct-to-consumer channel, mainly in North America, have not bore fruit, which is one of the reasons the board made the abrupt decision to replace CEO John Donahoe with Nike veteran Elliott Hill on Sept. 19. Shares are down 18% year-to-date.

Nike is at an inflection point as Hill returns to the company in its effort to revitalize the brand. The management change—Hill officially starts his new role Oct. 14—makes it hard to gauge how significant the Q1 results are, in particular, because the company had warned the Street so fully in advance that shareholders are already looking toward Hill’s first quarter. 

“I don’t think the quarter is as important anymore because we have a new CEO, but he’s not starting for another few weeks so this is the last quarter under Donahoe,” Aneesha Sherman, apparel and specialty retail analyst at AllianceBernstein, tells Front Office Sports. 

The report was none too surprising given Nike’s well-known recent challenges. Sherman says investors will likely see Nike’s performance issues begin to change two quarters from now (around March 2025). That’s when the “innovation pipeline will have kicked off with new releases in the spring, and inventory may have cleared by that point,” she says.

Nike is facing major headwinds, stemming from three areas of weakness. First was the boost in sales it saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, when stimulus funds and excess savings drove consumers to buy sneakers and athletic wear. 

The COVID-19 sneaker boom has normalized as consumer demand slowed—the second factor contributing to Nike’s malaise. Consumer appetite for discretionary spending is lower than it was three years ago. 

And third, innovation is lacking. “They haven’t put forth anything compelling in their product lines,” Sherman says. 

In its latest footwear tracker analysis published last month, investment bank BMO Capital Markets wrote that Nike’s new sneaker releases (Air Max Dn and Pegasus 41) continue to see disappointing performance in the U.S., though new products have performed better in the U.K. “These specific launches have not been grand slams,” Simeon Siegel, BMO retail analyst, tells FOS. 

The increased competition from smaller upstarts like Hoka and more established brands like New Balance have shown Nike’s vulnerabilities with innovation. “Smaller, trendy up-and-comers have generally outperformed legacy footwear players in their direct-to-consumer channels over the past several quarters, with Hoka and On as notable standouts on the upside,” says Michael Gunther, Consumer Edge’s head of insights. 

Nike’s U.S. market share in the sportswear category fell to 66% in 2024 from 69% in 2021, according to market research firm Consumer Edge.

Editors’ note: Read Lisa Scherzer’s full story here on Nike’s Q1 earnings report. 

Only five teams totaled more than three million in attendance this year, compared to eight in 2023. The Astros, Blue Jays, and Cardinals all fell below the three million mark. 

However, the top four teams saw attendance grow faster than the average increase of under 1% across the league. The Dodgers, Phillies, and Yankees—all playoff teams in 2024—saw increases of at least 2%, while the Padres grew by 1.9%.

Attendance for the Braves actually declined by 5.6%, though the team still, barely, tallied three million fans this year.

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s hit king, died Monday at the age of 83, leaving one of the most complex and troubled legacies in sports—and one still not entirely resolved.

The main parameters of Rose’s life are well-chronicled and broadly known. Rising from humble origins in Cincinnati, Rose used his legendary hustle and grit to amass a 24-year career that included 4,256 hits, three batting titles, three World Series titles, a National League Most Valuable Player award, and a Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honor. 

Rose’s eventual downfall would be his betting on baseball while a player and manager of the Reds—violating baseball’s cardinal rule. He would be ruled permanently ineligible in 1989 from working in baseball, also scuttling any consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose then spent much of the final 35 years of his life unsuccessfully trying to regain inclusion into the sport. 

Many fans and pundits have struggled to reconcile the meteoric growth of sports betting—one that MLB, like other pro leagues, has actively monetized—with Rose’s continued exile. For the league, though, the line has been clear: Those involved in baseball and in any position to affect game outcomes cannot bet on the sport, must sacrifice some broader societal rights, and it has punished violators accordingly. Even in death for Rose, that difficult coexistence between legal betting and league operations is certain to continue.

NASCAR ⬆ The sport’s Netflix docuseries, Full Speed, will return for Season 2. NASCAR’s version of Formula 1: Drive to Survive debuted ahead of the Daytona 500 in February, with five episodes chronicling the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Women’s Euro ⬆ UEFA has launched ticket sales for the 2025 tournament in Switzerland. After a record 574,875 fans attended the 2022 edition in England, 720,000 tickets have been made available for next summer’s games.

Renault ⬇ The French car manufacturer will stop producing Formula One engines after the 2025 season. The Alpine Renault F1 team, currently ninth in the sport’s 10-team constructors’ standings, will transition to using power units made by another manufacturer.

Golf agents ⬇ The PGA Tour will start charging player agencies an annual $1,500 fee as part of a new agent certification program starting in 2025, according to the Associated Press. Additionally, it will cost another $500 per agent who wants access to clubhouses, locker rooms, practice areas, media centers, and family dining spaces.