FC Barcelona announce new Nike deal worth £1.4bn
Barcelona have announced a 14-year kit manufacturing deal with Nike worth £1.4bn in what is a record agreement of its kind.
Despite murmurs of a fractious relationship between the Catalan club and the American sporting titan the deal will be worth around £105m per season for the LaLiga club.
Real Madrid’s deal with Adidas is believed to be worth £110m per season, and concludes in 2028, but had a total value of £950m.
Nike first signed a sponsorship deal with the Spaniards in 1998 and the previous agreement was due to end in 2028 – the new deal begins this season and replaces the latter stages of the existing deal.
President Joan Laporta has been locked in a drawn out negotiation period with the club with the Spaniard not sold on an extension with the US sportswear giant earlier this year.
Barcelona’s new collaborative approach
“FC Barcelona and Nike, two leading brands in the sport industry, are pleased to announce a new start with a multi-year partnership agreement, starting effective this season, that brings a new collaborative strategic partnership model between the two organisations,” a statement on the club’s website said.
They added that over their historic partnership “they have shared a deep commitment to innovation, creativity, and the pursuit of excellence” and that the “club has won 4 Champions Leagues, 12 league titles, 7 Copas del Rey, 3 World Club Cups and 3 European Super Cup” since the duo partnered.
Investors defaulted on payments due for shares in the club’s media spin-off Barca Vision and the LaLiga giants were forced to write off £117m in the 2023-24 accounts as a result of a dispute with investors.
Barcelona are set to return to the Camp Nou at the “start of 2025”, according to Laporta, after renovations to the iconic bastion of football forced the Catalan club to Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, 6km away.