Adidas offers to buy island for NFL player who breaks record

If you’re an NFL player—or prospective player—it pays to be fast.

As it turns out, that payment can come in surprising forms: Adidas is offering up some surf and turf at this week's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. And we're not talking steak and lobster.

The German shoe and sports apparel maker is promising to buy any player who can break the 9-year-old 40-yard dash record at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine his own private island (one the company will pick).

Top college prospects will run the 40-yard dash in front of a group of NFL team scouts, coaches, front office executives and owners this Friday and Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Chris Johnson set the 40-yard dash record of 4.24 seconds at the 2008 Combine.

Of course, with a deal like this there are always a few fine-print details. 

The player who sets the record must be wearing a pair of Adidas adizero 5-Star 40 cleats during the dash in Indianapolis and agree to endorse (and wear) the German company’s football shoes—and gloves—for the duration of the 2017-18 season. 

Players wearing the adizero 5-star 40 cleats won’t be hard to spot. The shoes, which retail for $150, feature an eye-grabbing cheetah-like exterior.

The offer states Adidas will give the player his own island “as soon as reasonably possible” and also stipulates the company will not cover the payment of any taxes associated with the reward. 

It also states the company could opt to pay the athlete $1 million instead of buying him an island. 

And there’s one more important point: Each player at the Combine gets two cracks at running a fast 40. But even if a player manages to break the record on his first and second attempts, he only gets one award. Sorry, limit one island per entrant.

Adidas has been intent on using the NFL Scouting Combine as a major marketing platform for several years. Adidas offered $100,000 to any Combine participant who could break the record in 2013 and 2014 and awarded $100,000 to each of the top three fastest 40-yard dash runners in 2015. 

Last year, Adidas offered $1 million to any player who could break Johnson’s 40-yard dash Combine record.