The Barcelona football club has confirmed an extension to its long-term partnership with Nike, which should be worth at least €155 million per season from 2018, making it the largest such deal in European football and marking yet another escalation in the dizzying rise in prices for leading European clubs.
On an annual basis, it's about twice the size of the ten-year deal worth £750 million (€830.3m-$920.4m) between Adidas and Manchester United, which was a record when it was unveiled in July 2014.
This latest agreement between Nike and Barcelona was reportedly announced at the club's annual general meeting, where management boasted that the fixed rate of the contract was up by 48 percent and that the royalties increased as well. It should run until 2023, and the club's members will then have the chance to vote on an extension of five years. The club had already indicated in May that it had agreed to an extension of the partnership with Nike, started in 1998, but the sum had not been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Nike has finalized a partnership with the Chelsea football club, which was reported to be worth £900 million (€996.4m-$1,104.8m) for 15 years. The deal would thus amount to the largest kit sponsorship in the English Premier League, although Adidas is apparently paying more on an annual basis for Manchester United – with a deal amounting to £75 million (€83.0m-$92.1m) per year, against £60 million (€66.5m-$73.7m) for Chelsea.
Nike and Chelsea jointly confirmed they had an agreement, starting from the 2017/18 season, but Nike declined to confirm the duration or the sum. Nike will produce football strips for the first team, the women's team and the Chelsea Academy, along with a full range of fan wear.
It comes after Adidas agreed to pay an estimated €50 million for the early termination of its Chelsea deal, which was due to end in 2023. The end of this deal may have been a means for Adidas to focus on Manchester United, then again Chelsea's managers were probably disgruntled about the differential between the price that Adidas was prepared to pay for Manchester (which had to be made public because the club is listed on the stock exchange) and the value of the brand's deal with Chelsea, which was reportedly worth about £30 million per year. Nike and Adidas have also been increasingly focusing on one or two clubs each for the major football leagues. Chelsea is Nike's second club in the Premier League, where it already works with Manchester City.
Separately, it was announced that New Balance Football has sealed a partnership with Jürgen Klopp, the German trainer of Liverpool FC. He has become an ambassador for the brand, although it remains unclear in what way he will be involved in New Balance's marketing efforts.
