Stephen Curry can thank his daughter Riley for his choice to do business with Under Armour.
The Golden States Warriors superstar had a grave decision on his hands in 2013. NBC Sports reports Curry had an eye catching season averaging 22.9 points per game. It was also his first time leading the team to the playoffs.
At the time, Curry was contemplating arguably one of the greatest business decisions of his career, securing an endorsement deal with the previously mentioned shoe company. In fact, this is where his then-two-year-old daughter Riley comes into the picture.
Curry lined up shoes from companies that included Nike, Adidas, Brand Black, and Under Armour. Riley was tasked with selecting which shoe company would reign supreme.
“My daughter Riley at the time was 2 and I was down at my agent’s house in LA and we were just kind of messing around,” Curry said to ESPN’s Nick DePaula on “The Sneaker Game.” “I had a bag full of all the shoes I was wear testing and I was getting to that final hour like, ‘What are you gonna do?’ I was messin’ around and said, ‘Riley come in here, let me put all these shoes around.’ So I had Nike, Adidas, Brand Black and Under Armour shoes.”
Riley would ultimately land on Under Armour’s Spawn shoe, and the rest is what they call history.
“I was just having fun with Ayesha like, ‘Hey, let’s see what she picks.’ Kind of in my head knew Under Armour was the move already but that was kind of the validation in that moment where she handed me the Spawn, not this colorway, but you that model’s like, ‘Here. Let’s go,'” Curry detailed during Complex’s “Sneaker Shopping.”
Curry signed with Under Armour in 2013. The deal earned him $4 million annually, but later rose to $20 million per year, according to NBC Sports.
What’s more, Curry’s success with the brand has continued to strengthen over the years. In 2020, Under Armour established the Curry Brand.
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Additionally, Curry’s most recent victory with the company is a long-term extension that has landed him the role as president of Curry Brand.
In March 2023, ABC News reported that the deal is said to be “one of the richest-ever endorsement deals in sports once annual base pay, stock equity, royalties on signature products and on-court incentive bonuses are tallied.”
“We started with the signature business, and with the opportunity to deepen the partnership, with an expectation of it going past my playing days, and the added investment in the great things that we both bring to the table, it’s an exciting time to strengthen that partnership,” Curry told the outlet. “We understand that it’s a mutually beneficial venture to do some great things, build a great roster, build more scale to the business and create great storytelling.”
