Nike Deal Estimated To Earn Liverpool Up To £100m A Year

The details on the kit deal Nike and Liverpool leaked fairly early in negotiations: £45m base per year along with 20 per cent of merchandise sales. It wasn’t readily apparent to the layperson, however, what that cut of the sales would amount to on an annual basis.

However, if they were being honest with themselves, most Liverpool supporters were primarily concerned with whether the Reds would be earning more than the £75m per annum that their eternal rivals, Manchester United were pocketing in their own deal with Adidas.

Sports marketing expert Alan Seymour seems to have confirmed these most fervent of wishes, commending Fenway Sports Group for pulling of a massive coup that could break United’s English record kit deal.

“We’re led to believe that the commission is going to be up to about 20 per cent so, in terms of actual value,” Seymour said speaking to the Evening Standard. “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. “

Besides Nike’s incomparable global distribution network, Liverpool will have access to Nike’s stable of stars, such as Serena Williams, Drake and minority owner LeBron James, as promotional partners.

“Yes, there’s a base figure just to have your name alongside it,” Seymour continued. “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.”

Nike’s star-studded lineup of athletes are not simply useful for marketing purposes, but presumably, as many Reds supporters will hope, also as transfer targets.

And yes, we are talking about PSG star Kylian Mbappé, the superstar forward currently plying his trade for PSG and at the very top of every wishlist worldwide.

However, Seymour expressed doubts that signing the deal would automatically lend credence to the # Mbappé2020 campaign many in Liverpool Nation are more than ready to kick into high gear.

“I don’t think Liverpool need to [sign Mbappé] and I don’t think it’s in their sphere of thinking at the moment,” he added.

“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.”