Arsenal: Addidas kit deal a necessity

Arsenal have agreed a new kit deal with Addidas worth £300 million over five years. The partnership is a necessity given the current financial stretching of the club.

In January 2014, after more than 20 years with Nike, Arsenal announced that they would be changing kit supplier. The switch saw them turn to Puma, who, at the time, had deals in place with Borussia Dortmund, Italy and Usain Bolt, but was never seen as a genuine option to the biggest clubs in the world — the current Premier League teams that Puma supplied ay the time were Cardiff City and Newcastle United.

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When the deal was announced, Puma chief executive Bjoern Gulden stated that the deal is the biggest ever for both parties. He was right, with the financial agreement coming in at just over £30 million per year for five years.

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Those five years, however, come to an end next summer, and Arsenal, as has been rumoured for some time, are choosing a new direction for their kit supplier, returning to the big two companies in world sports. This time, though, it isn’t Nike. It’s Addidas.

Addidas has been the supplier for the Gunners’ kits in the past, but not since 1994 when the initial move to Nike that extended over two decades was first agreed to. And this time, there are serious financial benefits to the move in kit supplier.

The new deal is another five-year agreement worth £300 million. That comes in at £60 million a year, approximately double what Puma was paying. The deal will be the third richest in the world behind Manchester United and Barcelona, which provide £75 million and £140 million respectively.

It’s easy to overlook these sort of developments because they often seem alien to uninitiated of us with running a global business the size of Arsenal football club. But this new deal is significant and it will have an effect on the club, especially in the current climate of the sport and its financial demands.

In the same week that Aaron Ramsey is being allowed to leave because his wages are too expensive, this announcement does signal an ointment to the stretching finances of the club. Two years without Champions League football, and no guarantee that that will cease next season, ever-inflating wages and transfer fees in the modern market, and increased competition at the sharp end of the domestic and European landscape of the sport all dictate the need for greater financial power.

The stark fact of the matter is that Arsenal do not have the same financial clout as the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and even Liverpool or Chelsea. They may be able to spend £50 – 100 million a year on new signings, but they cannot match the wages and extortionate fees of the true financially elite English clubs.

Kit deals like this, then, will help to close the gap. Arsenal are an extremely well-run club and it is agreements like this with Addidas that is a huge reason why. They are commercially excellent and, in the increasingly expensive football world, that is invaluable. Plus, who likes that Puma kits anyway?