The Swoosh’s recent announcement that it will divestits Nike Bauer unit is both understandable and upsetting to hockey retailers. Ahandful of surveyed dealers said Nike’s ability to push technology and premiumprice points higher helped improve the retail environment for this stable,niche category, and accelerate product life cycles. Now there is concern thatpotential new owners of the Nike Bauer hockey business might not bring thatsame fervor to their game.

To that end, some dealers would rather see NewBalance-owned Warrior Sports acquire the Nike hockey business rather thanfinancial buyers, who critics argue would be at a sourcing disadvantage withAsian factories that would likely ... Log in to view full article.