Barca’s new Nike deal explained: is it really worth €1.7 billion? And is it bigger than Real Madrid’s?
Barcelona announced a new multi-year partnership with kit supplier Nike last weekend, extending and updating a deal that was due to end in 2028.
In recent months, Barca president Joan Laporta has regularly boasted that he would secure a deal that would be “the biggest in all of world football”. The extended contract could now be worth €1.7 billion (£1.4 billion) over the next 14 seasons until 2038, providing a major boost to the club’s difficult and complex financial situation.
The confirmation of the new arrangement puts an end to a years-long saga that damaged relations between the Catalan club and the American sportswear giant. Still, it remains to be seen whether the deal will bring immediate relief to the team’s issues with La Liga’s salary caps – including most pressingly whether last summer’s signings Dani Olmo and Pau Victor can be registered to play for the team in the second half of this season. .
The Athletics spoke to figures inside and outside Camp Nou, all of whom wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, about whether this is a good deal for Barcelona.
What did Barcelona say?
Announcing the contract on Saturday, Barca said in a statement: “This new partnership consolidates Nike as the club’s main partner and official technical partner for all professional and amateur teams, creating a unique model that strengthens the brand association and drives global retail. and the growth of the licensing business.”
What are the financial details?
Barca officially told The Athletics that details of the deal were confidential, but club sources quoted a total figure of €1.7 billion over the next 14 years.
The new contract will consist of two phases. The first runs from 2024 to 2028, with the previous agreement due to expire in the latter year. Club sources say revenues for each of the next four years will now be around €108 million, almost doubling what the club earned in recent seasons.
From 2028, that amount will rise to around €120 million per campaign over the next decade, the club sources said.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
These sources said that Barcelona would also receive a ‘signing bonus’ of €158 million, which will be spread over the 14 years of the deal, including the current season’s bills.
Barcelona considers it a big victory for Barcelona after tough negotiations, which guarantees that the majority of the promised annual revenue will be received regardless of the team’s performance on the pitch.
When the administration of former President Josep Maria Bartomeu signed the previous agreement in 2016, a total amount of 105 million euros per year was announced. However, when the team was not as successful as hoped, for example by dropping out of the Champions League early, the club received only 50 to 60 million euros from Nike.
What does Nike say?
Nike and Barca have worked closely together since their first deal was signed in 1998 The Athletics Commenting on the new deal extension, Nike said it was excited to continue this deep and meaningful relationship.
A Nike spokesperson said: “We are excited to continue our work together at all levels, from grassroots football initiatives that inspire and empower young players, to elevating FC Barcelona to a global icon of style and culture. Together we are extremely passionate about promoting the growth of women’s football, and our partnership with the FC Barcelona women’s team is a testament to our shared commitment to equality and inclusivity in sport.”
Nike said it could not confirm details about the financial or business aspects of the deal.
What is the optimistic view?
The total figure of €1.7 billion is huge, even by the standards of multi-million dollar kit deals at the top level of club football. It would be a huge improvement on Barcelona’s previous income from Nike, a significant increase in revenue that would help improve the club’s financial situation in the coming years.
Importantly for many around Camp Nou, with the signing bonus included, this would also mean that Barcelona have achieved Laporta’s oft-stated ambition to complete Real Madrid’s deal with Adidas, which is currently accepted as the most lucrative in world football surpass.
This would support the current administration’s contention that they are successfully working to resolve the financial problems inherited from their predecessors.
Barça needs money to play Dani Olmo in the second half of the season (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
What is the reality of the situation?
It is not common in football for a club to renegotiate a kit deal with four years left to run. But the deal with Nike was seen by Barcelona’s board as a possible way to increase their revenues by ‘depositing’ more money into their annual accounts.
Nike would only agree to a new deal if it suited them, and anger had arisen within the American multinational over the way they had been treated throughout the negotiation process, including the Catalan club trying (unsuccessfully) to find a legal way to close the deal. cancel their previous agreement.
Laporta and his closest executives took charge of the negotiations that ultimately led to this weekend’s announcement. The full details of the agreement were not even shared with the board before its acceptance last Friday.
Some industry sources consulted by The Athletics were skeptical about the figures being claimed, with doubts among some in the Spanish capital over whether Barca’s deal would actually be bigger than Madrid’s.
Concerns were also raised about the effect of the new arrangement on the Catalan club’s Barca Licensing and Merchandising (BLM) division, with the statement announcing the deal appearing to suggest a deeper role for Nike in this area of Barca’s activities .
Since its launch by Bartomeu in 2018, BLM has been a great success. The 179 million euros Barca earned from kits and merchandising revenue was the most of any European club according to UEFA.
There are concerns that Nike’s increased role in the many ‘casual’ clothing and other merchandise items sold in official club stores will result in fewer profits reaching the coffers. Club sources have denied this will be the case.
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What’s the latest on Barcelona’s salary cap?
As so often in recent years, Barca had to work hard this summer to register all their current team members in La Liga, including Spanish international playmaker Olmo, a €60 million arrival from RB Leipzig, and young striker Victor, a € 2.7 million. I’m drawing from Girona.
Both were only registered at the last minute, taking advantage of La Liga’s financial rule 77, which allows the temporary replacement of injured players (in this case Andreas Christensen). That meant they were only registered with La Liga until December 31. In order to play either or both after the winter break, the club will have to get more money from somewhere.
Victor is another player experiencing uncertainty at Barcelona (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
At a press conference in early September, Laporta said Barca were “60 million euros away” from returning to a situation where La Liga would let them sign and register players as normal.
A few weeks later, it emerged that Barca’s accountants had demanded a write-down of the value of the club’s troubled subsidiary ‘Barca Vision’, which controls current and future media rights and activities, in the 2023-2024 accounts.
This meant that Barca now had to raise an estimated €120 million to get back within the allowable salary cap for the current season.
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How could the new Nike deal affect the situation?
When asked about the Barca Vision problem, Laporta often cited the huge benefits of a new kit deal as at least part of the solution.
One hope was that a ‘bonus’ of more than €100 million could fill most or all of the immediate holes in the club’s accounts caused by the failure of Barca Studios’ leverage. The agreed deal now spreads this bonus over the 14-year term – which is estimated to mean just an additional €9 million in 2024-2025 (plus the additional €40 million in normal revenue over the course of the season).
Club sources have said this The Athletics that the new Nike deal helps, but does not solve the Barca Vision problem. The search for more investors in that project continues. There is confidence at the highest level at Camp Nou that this will be successful, and no player sales will be necessary during the winter transfer window. But as is so often the case under the current regime, it seems likely that things will go completely wrong.
And in the longer term?
The general impression is that this new Nike deal fits well with Laporta’s policies during his second presidency. The club earns money up front that it can use to plug holes in its accounts and continue to spend on the selection.
A long-term problem with the new Nike contract that emerged in multiple conversations with industry sources is that Barcelona are now locked into this deal for another 14 years. Given market inflation, 127 million euros per year may not look so good in 2034. “This deal could tie the hands and feet of the next president,” said a former Blaugrana board member. The Athletics.
However, there is also an awareness that Barca are where they are, and the numbers coming from the club are impressive and necessary. “Financially, this new Nike deal is a huge oxygen boost,” said an influential figure in the club’s entorno, who has not always supported Laporta’s leverage policy.
(Additional reporting: Pol Ballús)
(Top photo: Alvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
