Mark Parker, president and chief executive of Nike, came all the way over to Paris to present last Monday the innovative new kits designed by the company for the national French football team and the French Football Federation (FFF). The uniforms will make their on-pitch debut in a friendly match in Paris on Feb. 9 between France and Brazil, which is also sponsored by the Swoosh.
The rather elegant and classic French uniforms feature Nike Dri-FIT technology and are designed to keep players cool. The microfiber polyester used in the jerseys comes entirely from recycled plastic bottles; this material is combined with 4 percent organic cotton for the shirts.
A derivative range of leisure apparel co-branded by Nike and the FFF is going to be available for fans at retail by Feb. 5. The launch will be backed by a major advertising campaign.
Nike is reportedly paying a record sum of at least €42.6 million a year, plus performance bonuses, to outfit the French team through 2018, as compared to the annual fees of €10 million that Adidas was paying before. Determined to become a clear Number One in football, Nike evidently hopes to get more visibility for its brand in the Fifa World Cup and other international competitions.
Adidas officials were happy to have ended its 38-year-old contract with the French team after its poor performance at last year's World Cup, where it ended in18th position. To make up in part for its huge agreed fees, Nike is reportedly expecting extra revenues of $103 million in the next three years through the sale of the licensed products and in other ways, projecting that they will boost the revenues of its French subsidiary by 30 percent to €537 million by 2014, the year of the World Cup in Brazil.
Nike officials would not comment on all these figures, published in the French press. Meanwhile, there is speculation that Nike is paying much more than estimated for its new five-year endorsement contract with the NFL in the U.S., more than doubling the annual fee of $10 million that Reebok had been dishing out as part of its previous 12-year exclusive deal.
The speculation is based on a 10Q statement recently filed by Nike with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Updating a previous filing, it indicated major increases in its contractual endorsement commitments for the financial years between May 2012 and May 2015. This includes a rise of $66 million to $704 million for the next fiscal year, followed by an increase of $148 million to $716 million in the next year. Based on present commitments, spending is projected to decline to $656 million in the year ending in May 2014, in spite of an increase of the same magnitude, and to $540 million the year after, but new contracts will likely pump up the figures.
