A sports marketing expert has predicted that Liverpool’s new Nike kit deal could bring in as much as £100 million a year.
The Premier League leaders announced this week that they have completed a new “multi-year” agreement, beginning on 1 June.
Nike will pay a base rate of £30m per year, significantly less than the £45m per year the club has earned with New Balance.
But crucially, the American sportswear company have offered 20 per cent royalties on the sale of merchandise.
And expert Alan Seymour spoke to the Evening Standard about the difference that could make to how lucrative an agreement it will be for the Anfield club.
“We’re led to believe that the commission is going to be up to about 20 per cent so, in terms of actual value, when you equate and add in the way it’s been structured… when you start to add all these things together then we’re talking, I would suggest, in excess of £80m and upwards to the £100m value,” he said.
“You cannot understate just the sheer opportunity that will come from being associated with this brand and I think all of those things will add attractiveness.
“The deal that Liverpool have done with Nike is a brilliant starting point, it will evolve from there and there will be lots of things that happen alongside it.
“Yes, there’s a base figure just to have your name alongside it, but all of the partners, all of the players in this – and there are a lot of them – that’s the [crucial part]. It’s very, very well thought out, like everything Liverpool do.
“So it will be all about the associations with other celebrities, the pull of Nike as a brand, and all the other iconic people, then it’s about the merchandising, the sales potential.
“Everything that FSG (Fenway Sports Group) have ever done at Liverpool, their whole concept of doing things is [about] value. It’s a partnership made for the very, very, very best.”
Jurgen Klopp’s transformation of the Merseyside club has seen a huge change in their off-field potential, as 10 years ago they were left searching for a new kit manufacturer after Adidas turned down a renewal of their deal.
But now, with a Champions League trophy in the cabinet and boasting a 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, Seymour believes the success of the team has given them more commercial power.
“It’s not just the perception but the actuality of your profile determines who you can buy from and who will come alongside you – I think those things are intrinsically linked,” he said.
“Liverpool weren’t right up in the major league in terms of who would come to them or where they could do their shopping.
“It says everything that [now], as Jurgen will tell you, every single world-class player in the world wants to come to Liverpool. And the same is definitely true for all the partnerships.”