• The New York Times, Tuesday, February 5, 2008 11:45 AM

Thirteen years after acquiring Bauer--and making bold promises that it would transform the business of hockey--Nike has put the unit up for sale. Many analysts predict that the company will find it hard to recover even half the $395 million it paid for Canstar Sports, Bauer's Montreal-based parent, in December 1994.

Nike's decision to step away from hockey at the same time it is increasing its presence in soccer shows that financial muscle and marketing power don't always dominate the field, or the ice. Denis Drolet, president of Groupe Drolet, which owns a hockey-stick maker, says that the Bauer brand name remains strong, but points out that the hockey market is stagnant.

Drolet traces the lack of growth largely to the premium prices Nike and others achieved. "The price of equipment keeps going up, making it hard for families," he says. Yet most analysts expect Nike to find a buyer, if at a fire sale price, before its self-imposed deadline of the end of May.

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