Arsenal to sign £90 million kit deal?

Just yesterday, we talked about the relative valuation of all the big European clubs, and noted that Arsenal were, by one measure, the second most valuable club in England and fifth most valuable club in Europe. A big part of that valuation, of course, is the income a team generates from endorsements and partnerships - that pile of money is key to a team’s ability to sign players.

Arsenal’s kit deals have always been, for lack of a better way to put it, off-cycle; they sign for a pretty good amount of money, then, about a year later, Chelsea and Manchester United sign market-alteringly huge deals that make Arsenal’s look like chump change.

Well, that cycle may be about to change a bit. Chelsea have defected to Nike, and Spurs are set to wear the swoosh after next season as well. so Chelsea’s old kit maker, adidas, have decided to use some of Roman Abramovich’s breakup money on Arsenal, in order to stay invested with a London team.

The always-reliable FootyHeadlines reported today that Arsenal are entering into a two-year, £90 million per year deal with the German company, a deal that triples Arsenal’s current Puma contract and would give Arsenal, at least for now, the most lucrative kit deal in England. According to FH, the deal is done but won’t be announced until January.

The one catch is that it is only a two year deal - adidas want to make sure Arsenal remain an elite, top tier team before spending that kind of money for the 5-10 years that is generally becoming the standard length of these deals. Still, though, even if it is only for two years, that’s one hell of a bump in pay.

And, selfishly, as someone who lives where adidas US is based, this is exciting because I have access to the company store, with its half-off-retail employee discount pricing.