adidas have confirmed that they will be taking over from Nike as official kit supplier to Manchester United FC at the end of the 2014-15 season.
As part of the agreement, adidas will supply product to Manchester United and outfit all of the club’s teams. In addition, adidas will have the exclusive right to distribute dual-branded merchandising products worldwide.
Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world. Through its 137-year heritage, Manchester United has won 62 trophies, enabling the club to develop the world’s leading sports brand and a global community of 659 million followers. The club has played 33 exhibition games in countries such as China, Japan and the United States in the last five years and all the club’s Premier League games since 1997/1998 have been sold out.
Manchester United joins the impressive roster of adidas football partners, including some of the world’s top clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC, AC Milan, Flamengo and – also starting with the 2015/2016 season – Juventus.
“We are excited to team up with Manchester United, one of the most successful and most loved football clubs globally. Our new partnership with Manchester United clearly underlines our leadership in football and will help us to further strengthen our position in key markets around the world,”
“At the same time, this collaboration marks a milestone for us when it comes to merchandising potential. We expect total sales to reach 1.5 billion GBP during the duration of our partnership.” – Herbert Hainer, adidas Group CEO.
The mention of £1.5 billion worth of revenue over the duration of the deal by Hainer is a noteworthy one.
The deal is reported to meet the Mancheser United board’s hopes of a $1 billion US kit deal at around £70 million a season over ten years.
adidas will likely be looking to instill confidence in shareholders that this deal will be a winner for adidas first and foremost, as well as meeting the Glazer’s valuation of the cost of a kit deal with Manchester United FC.
This better be the away kit for next season