The kit deal/sportswear manufacturer partnership with giant football clubs arms race has escalated. Moving forward, the battle will only escalate with brands bidding bigger numbers from here on out. Liverpool FC are currently partnered with New Balance, which although a fine company in its own right, is definitely not on the same level as Nike or Adidas.
The Liverpool FC -New Balance contract (worth £45 million per year) expires in June, and that reality has sparked a bidding war where the end result could see the Merseyside club hooked up with Nike in what might be the richest kit deal in British history.
According to the Daily Mail, Nike will:
“be announced as the Reds’ new suppliers from next season, after agreeing a British record deal worth up to £80million per year, eclipsing Manchester United’s huge £75m contract with adidas.
However, New Balance are desperate to continue as kit suppliers and claim they have a clause to match Nike’s offer and stay on past May 2020.”
In other words, expect a fierce legal battle, which could persist for some time, given all the massive monetary figures at stake here. New Balance, which has been with Liverpool since 2011, filed the legal complaint on September 10. A Liverpool spokesman has confirmed to the press that NB has indeed filed a legal complaint agains the club.
Since entering the deal, the Reds believe that their global brand profile has been raised, and certainly they can back that up with recent on-the-pitch results. The reigning European champions competed for the Premier League title until the last day last season and they finished runners-up in Europe the previous season.
Currently, the two biggest deals in world football, and the only contracts richer than Manchester United’s are Barcelona’s £100m-a-year arrangement with Nike and Real Madrid’s £98m per season deal with Adidas.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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