Report: Arsenal to sign lucrative kit deal with Adidas

The Telegraph is reporting that Arsenal and Adidas are on the verge of agreeing to a kit deal that would nearly double the value of Arsenal's current deal with Nike. The current deal ends after the 2013-14 season, but it's unclear whether the new deal would include a buyout of the Nike deal, or if this is simply a preemptive strike and the Nike deal would be allowed to run its course.

This deal would bring in £25million per year, as opposed to the £13million the current deal pays. Considering the fact that Arsenal were Nike's third-biggest seller (after Manchester United and Barcelona), that was probably a bit low, and rectifying that would help bridge the revenue gap between us and the competition some. It's even more of a bridge if, as The Swiss Ramble says, that Nike deal was actually £8million a year. This amount would put Arsenal immediately on the level of Liverpool's deal with Warrior, and a bit more than Adidas is (allegedly) currently giving Chelsea.

I'm personally quite pleased with the amount of money that Arsenal will bring in here, as this is a big step in fixing the revenue disparities that have been plaguing the club for a while now. I'm less pleased that it's with Adidas, as I'm mostly not a fan of Adidas football apparel. It's not very comfortable, and the only one I've seen that I liked is this one, which they didn't even really design. Also they perpetrated this, which may be my least favorite Arsenal shirt ever. Hopefully they'll come up with less awful designs than what the Sounders wear.