FC Barcelona Considers Dropping $100 Million Nike Contract To Start Its Own Clothing Brand
What To Expect: Today’s newsletter examines the news that FC Barcelona may ditch Nike to create its own clothing brand. The La Liga club would have to give up more than $100 million in annual payments in order to start manufacturing and distributing their own uniforms, and many people around the industry are watching closely to see if this could be a model for the future.
Stat of The Day: Sunday’s women’s college basketball game between Iowa and Ohio State averaged 3.39 million viewers on Fox. That’s more viewers than the NBA averaged for its Warriors-Celtics game (3.01 million) on the same night, and women’s college basketball is now averaging more viewers this year on Fox (981,000) than men’s college basketball (946,000). These numbers tell me two things: 1) Caitlin Clark is TV ratings gold, and 2) men’s college basketball is really missing big-name stars this year.
FC Barcelona is considering dropping Nike as its official kit supplier in favor of manufacturing and selling its shirts under its own brand, according to a recent report.
This would end a 26-year relationship between Nike and FC Barcelona. Over that period, the world’s largest sportswear company has paid the La Liga club billions in sponsorship fees, and they have even helped subsidize player wages, like helping FC Barcelona land Frenkie de Jong over PSG and Manchester City in 2019.