Liverpool Nike deal 'could be worth £100m a year', says sports marketing expert

Liverpool's new deal with Nike could in reality be worth as much as £100 million a year to the club , a sports marketing expert has claimed.

Liverpool confirmed earlier this week that the American sportswear giant will become the club's official kit supplier for the 2020-21 season, after fighting tooth and nail to get the world's pre-eminent sportswear brand on board at Anfield winning a High Court case against their current suppliers, New Balance , back in October.

The kit deal, which comes into effect from June 1 this year, is said to be worth around £30m-a-year, guaranteed, some £15m less than the bottom line earned from their successful agreement with current manufacturers New Balance.

However, the Reds felt the add-ons and exposure afforded to them by their terms with Nike - a company who posted a fourth quarter revenue increase of $10.2 billion (£7.92bn) in 2018 - will see their eventual income dwarf the fee from New Balance, which formed the crux of their argument in the court case.

Nike are believed to be offering 20 per cent royalties on sales of merchandise and the firm's superior global reach have led to suggestions Liverpool could actually make upwards of £80m a year.

Sports market expert Alan Seymour, who spoke to the Evening Standard, believes that figures may even be on the low side.

He said: “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.

“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 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.”

Some fans are hoping the Nike tie-in will lead to superstar players like Kylian Mbappe but Seymour does not think acquisitions like that will happen imminently.

“I don't think Liverpool need to and I don't think it's in their sphere of thinking at the moment,” he said.

“If it happens that the trends going forward dictate that that will be a key issue, then they're in the best place possible to do it, but I don't see Liverpool looking at that immediately.

“Nike have done it quite well and effectively before, obviously, but I don't think it's for Liverpool Football Club at the moment.”

The complete turnaround in Liverpool's fortunes in the decade since Adidas rejected the chance to renew their kit deal shortly after FSG's takeover in 2010 has now made Anfield a desirable proposition for the world's biggest brands as well as the best footballers, Seymour said.

“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.

“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.”