The contracts and history say that Nike has dressed Barça since 1998 and that their current relationship, renewed in 2016, extends until 2028. In 2026, both parties have the contractual power to decide if they want to continue the relationship. However, it is not clear that the hitherto happy marriage continues to coexist. There have been supply problems, among others, and Barça considers that the North American company has not complied with the conditions. Furthermore, according to Barcelona president Joan Laporta in RAC 1, “the market” offers him double what was agreed in 2016 with the Oregon brand: 85 million fixed euros and about 20 in variables. When Laporta talked about that “market” he could have said Puma. According to Blaugrana club sources, the German brand could report income of more than 120 million euros per year.
Barça considers breaking up with Nike. They estimate the cost of that exit at around 200 million. The complicated economic situation that the club is going through is not a secret to anyone. However, Barça believes it can reduce that amount by arguing that Nike has not complied with the contract, especially in terms of distribution. “At the beginning of the season there were no t-shirts and there are campaigns like Drake's with Spotify that could not be activated as we wanted because there was no gender,” club sources say. Therefore, there is a plan C: create its own brand by manufacturing and distributing the kits, associating with the Danish Hummel but under the Barça brand. This month the matter should be resolved.
Nike has not been the only brand that has dressed Barcelona but it is the longest. The Oregon giant has been stamping its logo on the Blaugrana kit since 1998 and in 2016 it renewed its agreement to continue equipping the Catalan team until 2028. Before, Meyba (1980-1992) and Kappa (1992-1998) were also technical sponsors of the club. Kappa, chaired by Luciano Benetton, received a figure of around 1,200 million pesetas (7.2 million euros) as financial compensation. It took them absolutely by surprise that the agreement with Nike that Núñez sealed with a young Sandro Rosell, then Nike's marketing director, for the next 10 years for an amount of 20,000 million pesetas (120 million euros) was signed before presidential elections in 1997. Since then, Nike has accompanied Barcelona every season by designing new models that break with the previous ones. Over the years, the second kit is also modified each season and, in the last six years, they have opted to have three kits.
A meeting was held last week in Barcelona. President Laporta and vice president Rafa Yuste met with a delegation from the American firm in a restaurant in Barcelona led by Heidi O'Neill, president of consumer, product and brand at Nike Inc. There are members of the board who recommend the president arrive to an agreement or seal an amicable end. But there are also several elements to resolve. According to club sources, Nike failed to honor some bonuses for total sales that had neither been quantified nor settled to Barça. In fact, in 2021 and with the previous board, there were other litigations with a crossroads of lawsuits that continue to claim 50 million from Nike for abuse of dominant position, non-payment of royalties for the sale of replicas and abusive penalties.
The basis of the agreement with Nike is a contract of about 120 pages from 2016 with 85 million fixed and about 20 million royalties to which annexes have been added that specify amounts, deadlines, clauses, concepts that add and others that subtract. Sources familiar with the 2016 negotiations point out that winning the men's Champions League meant, for example, earning 5 million more. Not qualifying to compete in the European competition reduces 10%, so the figures vary. Currently, around 64 million euros are being received annually.
For this reason, alternatives are being sought with brands like Puma that could supposedly provide double. This week an expedition from the German brand led by CEO Arne Freundt traveled to Barcelona. If an agreement is reached, it would not be possible to operate with the Germans until the 2025-26 season. For the 2024-25 academic year, the choice would be to continue with Nike or create its own brand through BLM, a company created in 2018 that is responsible for exploiting the t-shirt business and all types of products associated with the club beyond Nike. Last season the club had a turnover of 100 million euros thanks to it. The board dreams of self-managing this line of business to boost income. To do this, you would need to partner with a company that is in charge of production and distribution. Hummel, which produces 97% of its material in Pakistan, China, India, Bangladesh, Portugal and Turkey, is a possibility but not the only one.
Although by contract Nike must provide Barça with a shirt for the coming season, which has already been designed, produced and will begin to be distributed in June - in fact the American brand is already designing the one for the 2025-26 season -, club sources They assure that they are already working on the aforementioned own production for the coming year in case the result of these negotiations is not as expected. The board will meet on March 18 to ratify a decision that may be historic.
