Records are made to be broken, and Real Madrid are pretty good at doing that on the field. Now they are poised to do so off the field as well.
According to a report from World Soccer Talk, Los Blancos are set to sign a world record $1.4 billion deal with athletic apparel giants adidas.
Yes, jerseys are such big business, we’re talking billions of dollars here, not millions anymore. And that’s not even for the sponsorship on the jersey, just the rights to make, manufacture and sell the heck out of them.
This deal is also a huge move for the Spanish club as they face a transfer ban and and can’t wheel or deal for the next year, stuck with the wages they are currently paying without much ability to deal players they may want to move without the ability to replace them. The ban has already impacted the ability of the club to buy in this final window, per a report in The Daily Mail in the U.K.
This new contract, expected to be announced officially before the end of this season, will replace the one signed between the two parties in 2012 and was set to expire in 2020. Real Madrid would also regain the title as having “the most valuable kit in world soccer,” a distinction they lost last season to English side Manchester United, who moved from Nike to adidas. That deal was for 10 years and set to net the Red Devils $1.2 billion if all terms are met.
Adidas also signed long-time partner Bayern Munich to a massive deal through 2030, but that one, per reports, pales in comparison to the one signed by these two foreign-based giants. Instead, Bayern Munich receives just $65 million to start, a figure that increases to $98 million by the end of the deal, as it is currently structured.
Also having signed Chelsea to a kit deal back in 2013, the apparel supplier has the three-richest kit deals in world soccer and four of the most recognizable club names in the game atop the long list of adidas clubs around the world.
