Revisiting Chelsea’s Nike deal: Evaluating the impact it will have

Chelsea are set to kick off a mega kit deal with Nike next season. Let’s revisit the agreement and see what it means for the Blues.

Back in May, Chelsea announced they were ending their ten-year partnership with Adidas. The deal would conclude at the end of the 2016/2017 season. The fact that the club ended the deal with Adidas rather prematurely indicated that something bigger and better was being lined up. Chelsea even paid Adidas £40 million in order to terminate the contract.

The German firm were part of some of the clubs’ greatest successes, including their first ever Champions League triumph. Could the perfect parting gift be a fifth Premier League title?

Nike were announced as Adidas’s replacement in October. It’s a 15-year deal worth £900 million (£60 million a year) making it the largest commercial deal in the club’s history. Nike will officially become Chelsea’s kit supplier from the start of the 2017/18 season.

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The club were frustrated at the fact the German Sportswear brand were willing to pay more money to other elite european clubs. Therefore, Chelsea saw this as a great opportunity both commercially and financially to secure a deal with Adidas’s rivals Nike. Nike will pay Chelsea double the amount adidas were paying and it becomes the second largest kit sponsorship deal in the UK behind Manchester United’s current deal with the Germans.

Chelsea will earn significantly more than domestic rivals Manchester City and Tottenham who are also contracted with Nike. Man City’s deal is worth £12 million per year whilst Tottenham’s will be £25 million per year from next season.

Director Marina Granovskaia was at the forefront in concluding this deal and expressed her delight at securing this partnership.

"This is an incredibly exciting and important deal for the club. Like Chelsea, Nike is known around the world for its excellence and innovation and we look forward to working together in what is sure to be a successful partnership. We believe Nike will be able to support our growth into new markets as well as helping us maintain our place among the world’s elite football clubs."

Granovskaia was also involved in securing the £40 million match-day sponsorship deal with Japanese tyre company Yokohama and the £10 million training kit sponsorship deal with energy drink company Carabao.

Sponsorship has become a huge part of football. The plethora of brand names plastered on boards behind managers and players during press conferences and interviews is proof of this. It’s incredible to see and people are being employed at football clubs specifically to secure these deals and enhance the clubs’ global reputation. It’s vital that Chelsea keep up with their competitors both on and off the pitch and this deal is significant in showing that.

Chelsea believe that securing a deal of this magnitude without competing in the Champions League this season demonstrates their growing status. The club is clearly showing ambition and drive to compete among Europe’s elite football clubs.

It’s not only success off the pitch that is catching the eye of supporters, though. More importantly, the Blues are performing on the pitch with thirteen wins in a row. However, will Antonio Conte’s men be able to start the Nike era as defending Premier League champions?