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Liverpool and Adidas have reunited in a partnership that has already set new records for the club with the first week of sales from the official launch of the new Reds home and away kits on 1 August.
The decision to switch from Nike to Adidas was made late last year, ending a five-year stint with the American sports apparel giant. Liverpool officially announced the change earlier this year, with more details emerging following the release of the new merchandise at the beginning of this month.
The most significant detail is that it's a ten-year agreement between the Reds and the German company. The exact value of the deal remains undisclosed, but various reports suggest it could be around £65 million to £70m annually. However, these figures don't account for bonuses linked to competitive success or the percentage Liverpool receives from global sales of Reds/Adidas branded merchandise.
So how does this compare to other deals? Rival Premier League clubs Manchester United and Manchester City have signed their own £900m and £1bn 10-year deals with Adidas and Puma respectively over the past 18 months.
Dan Haddad, head of commercial strategy at global advisory firm Octagon, which specialises in sport, told the ECHO: "Adidas and Nike structure their deals very well, and they are very good at forecasting demand and sales. These are highly attributable deals where sales volumes can be tracked easily. It's difficult to compare apples to apples when it comes to how it stacks up against rivals, but a lot are highly incentivised on bonuses and pitch. For example, Manchester United were penalised for a lack of Champions League football, so it works both ways.
"Good performance on pitch has a huge impact on sales. The ceiling will be far higher for the Adidas and Liverpool deal than what has been reported.
"With this Adidas deal, the way they are marketing the club and putting a lot behind it tells you quite a bit. Perhaps for Nike, when athat was winding down there was less focus, but from the off and after success last year for Liverpool, Adidas are going to be really leveraging those rights."
The Adidas partnership marked the first occasion that Liverpool had secured such an extended agreement with a collaborator from the initial contract, something that has been standard practice in the United States sporting landscape for some time but is now becoming a pattern observed in the Premier League.
"In a club's commercial ecosystem the tier of global partner level is three or four years max, traditionally," said Haddad. "But clubs want to now avoid significant churn at that level and principal partners now are at least five to seven years, which is where clubs look for a starting point. That's been a changing trend.
"Both Liverpool and Adidas will be confident on this deal. There is a lot of room for growth.
"In the sports apparel sector there is a lot of confidence that the marketplace is still undeveloped. You can already see that with the broader range of products on offer. There will be a belief on both sides there is significant demand that hasn't been captured."
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