Adidas stops apparel deal with Liverpool FC
German sportswear brand adidas has declined to renew its apparel deal with UK football club Liverpool because the price was too high given the team’s poor performance, CEO Herbert Hainer recently told media in Munich.
Liverpool FC has replaced adidas with a club record, six-year, £25 million contract with Warrior Sports, a subsidiary of New Balance. It will be Warrior's first major football contract, and begins next season. It is worth almost double the current agreement with adidas.
Liverpool has struggled to recapture glories that made it the dominant team in English soccer during the 1970s and 80s. “The gap between their performance on the field and what the number should be is not in balance,” Mr Hainer said. “Then we said, ‘Okay we will not do it. That’s the end of the story.’”
Liverpool FC’s contract with Warrior may benefit the team further because it allows the club to retain control over all merchandise not related to the clothing the team wears, something that it had ceded to adidas. Still, it will no longer be able to rely on the sports-makers vast global supply chain.
“It all depends on the success and the effort and the popularity, the exposure on TV, revenue you can generate by merchandising,” Mr Hainer said. “This all has to be brought in line between what you offer and what you get. We thought their asking and the delivering is not in the right balance.”
