Our Commercial Team

[stg]

Nike was up for renewal last year. We extended it for £9m per year

I think it has been extended to 2014 so the Nike and Emirates deals run out at the same time.

[frankbutcher]

Nike was up for renewal last year. We extended it for £9m per year

I think it has been extended to 2014 so the Nike and Emirates deals run out at the same time.

What's the point of that? What benefit do you get from that? Liverpool have Warrior doing their kit for £25m per season. United have Nike paying them £25.4m per season. £25,4m per season! For a 3rd time... £25.4m per season!!! Nearly TRIPLE our deal!!!! How???? We are in Europe. We might not be United, but we're better than that. Even Spurs' deal is c. £12m per season for 1 season in the Champions League!!!!! Sorry mate, but this is not right. This is a shambles.

[g88ner]

Nike was up for renewal last year. We extended it for £9m per year

I think it has been extended to 2014 so the Nike and Emirates deals run out at the same time.

What's the point of that? What benefit do you get from that? Liverpool have Warrior doing their kit for £25m per season. United have Nike paying them £25.4m per season. £25,4m per season! For a 3rd time... £25.4m per season!!! Nearly TRIPLE our deal!!!! How???? We are in Europe. We might not be United, but we're better than that. Even Spurs' deal is c. £12m per season for 1 season in the Champions League!!!!! Sorry mate, but this is not right. This is a shambles.

You're right, it would be a shambles BUT that cannot be correct.

I know it's open season on the Arsenal staff at the moment, but there's no way in the world they would negotiate a £9m deal last year unless their hands were tied in some way. Because, as you say, Sp*rs get £12m, and we'd be getting more than that, I'm sure.

In fact, I'm sure the contract with Nike didn't run our last year, so there must be more to it than stg and yourself are suggesting.

[frankbutcher]

Nike was up for renewal last year. We extended it for £9m per year

I think it has been extended to 2014 so the Nike and Emirates deals run out at the same time.

What's the point of that? What benefit do you get from that? Liverpool have Warrior doing their kit for £25m per season. United have Nike paying them £25.4m per season. £25,4m per season! For a 3rd time... £25.4m per season!!! Nearly TRIPLE our deal!!!! How???? We are in Europe. We might not be United, but we're better than that. Even Spurs' deal is c. £12m per season for 1 season in the Champions League!!!!! Sorry mate, but this is not right. This is a shambles.

You're right, it would be a shambles BUT that cannot be correct.

I know it's open season on the Arsenal staff at the moment, but there's no way in the world they would negotiate a £9m deal last year unless their hands were tied in some way. Because, as you say, Sp*rs get £12m, and we'd be getting more than that, I'm sure.

In fact, I'm sure the contract with Nike didn't run our last year, so there must be more to it than stg and yourself are suggesting.

Facts please. My source is Swiss Ramble.

[stg]

As I understood it we had a deal with Nike until 2011 then they had the option to extend for another 3 years.

Perhaps The Arsenal think that being able to negotiate both shirt deals at the sametime could increase the sponcership deals?

[g88ner]

Facts please. My source is Swiss Ramble.

I haven't got any facts ... and I don't know who this Swiss Ramble is, but if he's anything like Swiss Tony, he should be treated with suspicion!

Look, all I'm saying is that usually if something sounds too ridiculous to be true, then it probably is.

We may not be maximising our potential, but I doubt they're incompetent.

Surely there's more to this story? but if Swiss Ramble is a highly respected source, then fair enough I suppose. Just seems incomplete to me, that's all frank.

As I understood it we had a deal with Nike until 2011 then they had the option to extend for another 3 years.

Thanks stg. So perhaps it was more complicated.

[QuartzGooner]

Swiss Rambler is an incredible blog, surely the best football finance blog on the net?

http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/

But I cannot remember reading there that our deals were up for renewal in 2011, instead there are a number of deals up in 2014.

Yes, we could advertise in the places Frank mentions. Why not suggest it to the club?

But the tourist turning up in London and wanting to go to a game two days later is hardly likely to get a ticket through official means.
The advertising must be done overseas, in advance.

The club know that commercial revenues are poor compared to our competitors. Hence we got a big new commercial team a couple of seasons ago.

I do not know enough about online marketing and retail to comment definitively on this, but I would have thought the first major proof of the pudding comes with the figures for renewal of commercial deals in 2014, an until then our hands are largely tied?
Unless extra deals can be cut as at Man Utd, but if Swiss Rambler is aware of these then surely our commercial team are too?

Again Frank, let the club know!

[stg]

I would recommend to anyone a google of Swiss Ramble not just for his reviews of The Arsenal but all clubs. Very insightful and interesting. Give yourself a good half hour to read and digest what he is saying

[g88ner]

Facts please. My source is Swiss Ramble.

The only bit about shirt sponsorship I can find on Swiss Ramble is...

"the club signed a 7-year kit supplier deal with Nike for £55 million until 2012, but that has since been extended by 3 years until 2014."

...Arsenal’s kit deal, which now delivers £8 million a season, compared to the £25 million deal recently announced by Liverpool with Warrior Sports and the £25.4 million paid to Manchester United by Nike"

From what I can see, it doesn't go into any detail whatsoever beyond that, so we don't know the reasons behind why it was extended, so unless I'm reading the wrong article (link below) then perhaps we should reserve judgement until we know more?

http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2011/ ... tions.html

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to rip into the commercial team over their new kit contract, and lambaste their incompetence for being so stupid, but I don't think that article gives me enough ammunition, to be honest.

It just doesn't add up.

[flash gunner]

because Swiss Ramble said it doesnt make it FACT!!! Im guessing this is a blog and in my blog ive just written that Arsene Wenger has been sacked unfortunately Swiss Rambler and myself are talking a load of shit

[OOKed]

You guys either don't get it or aren't able to see the big picture here ..

Plain and simple : we are building a 'commercial' team for the future

[I Hate Hleb]

because Swiss Ramble said it doesnt make it FACT!!! Im guessing this is a blog and in my blog ive just written that Arsene Wenger has been sacked unfortunately Swiss Rambler and myself are talking a load of shit

Although to be fair flash, stuff he has written in the past show he does know an awful lot about the financial picture at Arsenal.

You, however, are correct in stating that you talk a load of shit!!

[frankbutcher]

because Swiss Ramble said it doesnt make it FACT!!! Im guessing this is a blog and in my blog ive just written that Arsene Wenger has been sacked unfortunately Swiss Rambler and myself are talking a load of shit

Although to be fair flash, stuff he has written in the past show he does know an awful lot about the financial picture at Arsenal.

You, however, are correct in stating that you talk a load of shit!!

He is the pre-eminent football blogger. He states in the original link I posted that the 3-year extension signed in 2011 was at £8m per year. Whether they had an option for an additional 3 years, I don't know. Why wouldn't we buy ourselves out of a 3-year deal if United and Liverpool can do deals at 3x that. Even Spurs were clever with 2 sponsors. One for Domestic games and one for Europeans. This is the kind of innovation that we are missing. We are getting no Return on Investment for a ridiculously expensive commercial team.

[Barriecuda]

I want to talk about the Nike sponsorship briefly. (Well, I had meant to be brief...)

I have a feeling that Arsenal are getting more than just the 9m a season. If you look at the 2012-2013 kit launch, it appears Nike has designed an entire marketing campaign around the look - based on the Arsenal subway/tube sign. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some of the value of the sponsorship is not in direct funds, but in value-added marketing features. Nike might also be eating distribution channel costs or other expenses that aren't easily seen. For example, the United kit deal might be a lump sum payment, but United might end up spending a lot of that sponsorship on things we get included in our deal. There are a lot of potential intangibles that we take for granted. That is of course, optimistic thinking.

Secondly, Liverpool's kit deal is outrageous considering their team. However, we have to appreciate a couple things. It is a significant outlier, not at all reflective of actual market values. New Balance (owners of Warrior) are making a sizeable investment by trying to establish themselves in an already highly competitive market. I suspect that the US owned New Balance also has ties to NESV (New England Sports Ventures), who are already massively investing in Liverpool. So saying "Arsenal isn't doing good because Liverpool has a way better deal" isn't entirely fair because that's a one-off case - where Liverpool probably had an inside connection anyway.

Thirdly, United actually has competed for both the Prem and the CL in the last few years. We haven't. That's worth a lot right there. Secondly, I don't know when the deal was negotiated, but for a while United offered two of Nike's biggest sponsored athletes - Rooney and Ronaldo. Even with the latter gone, United is going to get a sizeable premium from Nike because they already sponsor Rooney. It is beneficial for Nike to be able to show their star player in his full kit, from Nike boots to Nike shirt, to Nike clothing - we don't have a big-time Nike player. These two factors combined give United a lot more to offer than we do - a reason why they make a lot more on their deal than we do.

There's a whole lot of factors that play into it. We're not doing exceptionally well at 9m a season considering even Newcastle and Sp*rs can do better than that, but United and Liverpool's deals are bad indicators of the standard.

Lastly, to the poster who suggested that we want our kit deal to run out at the same time as the Emirates deal - that's pretty interesting. Perhaps the club has a long term ambition to merge the stadium with the kit sponsor in a mammoth deal, something akin to Bolton's "Reebok Stadium" deal. Interesting thought if nothing else.

[highburyJD]

Nike was up for renewal last year. We extended it for £9m per year.

where did you hear that...?
please please tell me that was Nike exercising an option...