This article is from the WeChat public account: sloth bear PHYSICAL (lanxiongsports) , author: Li Jinglin The picture is from: worm

Compared to five years ago, Premier League sponsorships have doubled. Of the top 10 jersey sponsorship contracts for European football clubs, seven also currently have annual revenues of more than 60 million euros.

On January 7, 2020, Liverpool officially announced the signing of a long-term jersey sponsorship contract with Nike. Beginning in the 2020-21 season, Liverpool will appear on the court wearing a Nike jersey. The two sides did not disclose details of the contract. According to the “Sun” report, the basic amount of the contract is 30 million pounds per year, plus the jersey sales share, it is expected that Liverpool’s annual revenue will reach 80 million pounds. This number will exceed the current Premier League jersey sponsorship of Manchester United, which has signed a £ 75 million annual sponsorship contract with Adidas.

Compared with five years ago, Premier League sponsorships have doubled. Based on a number of foreign media reports, Liverpool’s previous contract with New Balance was only 25 million pounds. After Arsenal changed the gate from Puma to Adidas in 2019, the amount of sponsorship has doubled to 60 million pounds per year; Manchester City ends in 2019. It signed a 20 million pounds contract with Nike every year and switched to Puma for 65 million pounds a year.

In the top 10 jersey sponsorship contracts of European football clubs, there are currently 7 companies with annual revenues exceeding 60 million euros. The biggest jersey sponsorship contract belongs to Barcelona, ​​and Nike provides 150 million euros a year to La Liga giants. Real Madrid followed closely behind, and in 1998 Adidas became the jersey sponsor of the “Galactic Warship” and has maintained cooperation for more than 20 years. In 2019, Real Madrid and Adidas renewed their contract until 2028, and the contract value of the two parties rose to 120 million euros per year. Even Bayern Munich, which ranks 8th in this ranking, has received 60 million euros in jersey sponsorship revenue since 2020.

In the social media era, the influence of clubs and stars on social platforms and the ability to carry goods are a major reason why brands value and are willing to pay high prices.

At the club level, Barcelona and Real Madrid have more than 200 million followers on various social platforms. Moreover, almost every tweet from the giants has a sponsor logo revealed. Compared with the previous TV or print ads, brands have more opportunities to be exposed in the social media era, and the corresponding ads can reach the target users more densely and accurately.

Stars will also have a lot of advertising content in cooperation with sponsors on social media. After Mourinho’s class from Manchester United in November 2018, Pogba posted a picture showing a “weird” smile. Due to the conflict between him and Mourinho, this photo immediately attracted attention. Pogba’s Ins received more than 64,000 likes in less than ten minutes. Then Adidas stood up and said that this was an advertising behavior that had been arranged in advance, but happened to crash with Mourinho after class.

The “Mysterious Smile” Twitter post by Pogba was deleted ten minutes after it was posted.

Bids between sponsors, especially Nike and Adidas’ two giants on the football field, are another important reason for the increasing sponsorship of jerseys.

In 2014, the renewal offer offered by Nike to Manchester United was 30 million pounds per season, and Adidas’ offer of up to 75 million pounds broke the balance of the original jersey sponsorship market. In 2016, Nike snatched Chelsea from Adidas for twice the price and signed a 15-year contract with Chelsea for £ 60 million per year. Currently, Nike and Adidas account for nine of the top ten jersey sponsorship fees in the five major leagues.

The competition between Nike and Adidas has continued to the national team. The German Football Association and Adidas contract originally expired in 2019. Due to Nike’s strong intervention, Adidas had to raise the offer to 50 million euros to keep the German national team’s jersey sponsorship.

However, in recent years, the cost of sponsorship of giant European jerseys has skyrocketed, and higher requirements have been placed on the ability of sponsors to realize cash. In order to obtain higher returns, in the context of digital media iteration and cross-border marketing, the sponsors and the market development level have each derived some new games.

1. Refine the contract, take each one required

Currently, the time period for jersey sponsorship contracts is mostly 10-15 years. While signing a huge contract with the club, the sponsors should be prepared for possible risks in the future.

An extra clause is implicit in the huge contract between Manchester United and Adidas: If Manchester United fail to enter the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, they will lose 30% of the sponsorship amount. In the post-Ferguson era, Manchester United gradually faded out of the Premier League title. Last season Manchester United ranked only 6th in the league and qualified for the UEFA Cup. If they fail to return to the top four of the league this season, they will trigger additional terms in the contract and the loss will exceed 50 million pounds.

Adidas and Manchester United signed this huge contract with additional terms. On the one hand, they value Manchester United’s global influence and business value, but on the other hand, they also have a clear judgment on Manchester United’s current competitive strength. Since the influence and exposure of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup are not on an order of magnitude, such additional terms better protect the interests of sponsors.

Some sponsors need to avoid risks, while others need to increase their appeal.

Klopp’s joining makes Liverpool the hottest team in Europe today. They won the Champions League last season and so far this season the Premier League has reached 14 points. In order to compete for Liverpool from New Balence, Nike added terms such as sales sharing and cross-border marketing to the contract, using cross-border stars such as James, Serena and Drake to help Liverpool generate revenue through Nike’s global influence.

It is also because of its distribution capabilities and cross-border promotion advantages that Nike defeated New Balence in the previous lawsuit and finally signed Liverpool.

2. Joint jerseys become a trend

To stimulate jersey sales, sponsors and clubs are thinking of new ideas. In the past two seasons, different forms of joint jerseys have appeared on the market.

The earliest crab eater was the French Ligue oligarch Paris Saint-Germain. They collaborated with their own jersey sponsor Nike Brand Jordan Brand to print the “jumpman” logo on their Champions League jersey. In September 2018, Paris Saint-Germain players wore Jordan Brand jerseys for the first time to the UEFA Champions League. According to sportspro, Paris Saint-Germain has sold more than one million jerseys this season due to the cooperation with Jordan Brand, second only to Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich and Manchester United, ranking fifth in jersey sales.

The cooperation between the two parties is not limited to football, but also basketball shoes-Air Jordan 5 “PSG”, basketball clothes and daily casual clothes. According to reports, the cooperation between Jordan Brand and Paris Saint-Germain will continue, and an Air Jordan 4 will be launched in 2020, which is expected to be released in September.

Justin is wearing a Paris Saint-Germain and Jordan Brand jacket.

In addition to sports equipment, stars in the fashion industry have also joined this cross-border marketing. For example, the famous American singer Justin Timberlake once appeared in his Paris-Germany and Jordan Brand jacket on his ” Forest Man (Man of the woods) “tour.

In addition to business cooperation, Paris Saint-Germain also promotes public welfare through joint jerseys. On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out in Notre Dame. Paris Saint-Germain immediately launched a commemorative jersey. The front face of the jersey was printed with the shape of Notre Dame, and the original position of the player’s name on the back became “Notre Dame (Notre Dame) “.

In terms of jersey co-branding, Adidas and game manufacturer EA SPORTS have also explored a new way.

In 2018, Adidas and EA SPORTS teamed up to design digital jerseys for Real Madrid, Bayern, Juventus and Manchester United. Fans can buy these jerseys in the EA SPORTS store and the fan store on the club’s official website, and use them in the “FIFA” series of games.

In 2019, Adidas and EA SPORTS released a physical joint limited edition jersey based on the digital version of the jersey. Among them, Real Madrid released a gorgeous black and gold jersey with gold to commemorate the team’s outstanding performance in the past ten years. Bayern’s limited-edition jersey takes the team’s nickname “Southern Star” as its design source, and uses red and black as the main color to create a starry picture.

Adidas jointly launched Real Madrid jersey with EA SPORTS.

Under the idea of ​​cross-border marketing, the outreach of today’s football equipment has been continuously expanded. Traditionally, a team will probably use three to four sets of jerseys on different occasions in a season, but today, the boundaries between online, offline, and social courts are constantly blurred, resulting in various limits. This jersey has become a new way for sponsors to make money, and the way to bring goods is no longer limited to the influence of the team or the star.

As the amount of sponsorship continues to rise, new ways of playing around football equipment will emerge in the future.


This article is from the WeChat public account: lanxiongsports author: Li Jinglin