The Spanish giant football club FC Barcelona unveiled a new historic link-up deal with sportswear giant Nike which could reach up to 1.7 billion euros by 2038 on Saturday.
This is a milestone in the partnership that has been an existing between the two companies since Nike began providing the club with manufacturing of their jerseys and other apparel in 1998.
“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,” Barcelona said in a statement.
The last agreement between FC Barcelona and Nike would have ended in 2028. However, earlier this year the club tried to end this agreement due to dissatisfaction with the conditions.
This was followed by legal actions, in July, a Spanish court in commercial law dismissed Barcelona’s efforts to void the contract.
But, the slums mentioned above show that this new agreement is a new starting point for the parties, where Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, focused on the desire of the club to strengthen cooperation with the company.
“This deal would’ve allowed us to maintain a 1:1 spending ratio and sign players without restrictions, but our goal is securing the best possible contract for Barça, and we’re on that path now,” Laporta said.
The new deal consists of approximately 10 million euros of signing bonus and will yearly cost approximately 127 million euros on average, split over the length of the contract.
This financial boost could hardly be in a better time for Barcelona, who has experienced financial troubles in the last couple of seasons.
In 2022, the club proposed to sell 25% of TV rights for the next 25 years to the American investment fund Sixth Street in order to restore the financial stability of the club.
