Liverpool’s Performance Didn’t Warrant Price, Adidas CEO Says

   

Adidas AG (ADS) declined to renew its apparel deal with 18-time English soccer champion Liverpool because the price was too high given the team’s poor performance, the chief executive officer of the world’s second- biggest sporting goods maker said today.

Liverpool, which is also a five-time European champion, has replaced Adidas with a club record, 6-year, 25 million pound ($38.3 million) contract with Warrior Sports, a subsidiary of New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. The accord, Warrior’s first major soccer contract, begins next season and is worth almost double the current agreement with Adidas.

Liverpool has struggled to recapture glories that made it the dominant team in English soccer during the 1970s and 80s. It hasn’t won a league championship since 1990 and was overtaken by Manchester United as the holder of most championships last season. Still, its famous red shirt remains among the most popular. Liverpool didn’t make the Champions League, the region’s top club competition, for this season. It’s seventh in the Premier League, 13 points behind leader Manchester City.

“The gap between their performance on the field and what the number should be is not in balance,” Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said in an interview in Munich today. “Then we said, ‘Okay we will not do it. That’s the end of the story.’” Liverpool didn’t respond.

The team’s lack of success hasn’t stopped it signing other commercial agreements. London-based bank Standard Chartered is paying a record 81.5 million pounds to have its logo displayed on its jerseys for four years and the team’s sales department has also signed new sponsors like Turkish tourism.

Benefits?

The contract with Warrior may benefit the team further because it allows Liverpool to retain control over all merchandise not related to the clothing the team wears, something that it had ceded to Adidas. Still, it will no longer be able to rely on the sports-makers vast global supply chain.

“ It all depends on the success and the effort and the popularity, the exposure on TV, revenue you can generate by merchandising,” Hainer said. “This all has to be brought in line between what you offer and what you get. We thought their asking and the delivering is not in the right balance.”

Adidas faces a big year ahead. It’s a main partner to the two biggest sports events taking place, soccer’s European Championship and then the Olympic Games in London. Hainer said from a commercial point of view the soccer event will be a bigger boost, while the Olympics is the biggest platform the company has to show its commitment to sports. The company enjoyed record 1.5 billion euro ($1.9 billion) in sales in 2010 because of the World Cup in South Africa. He says it will do even better this year.

“We will definitely beat the 1.5 billion euro revenue target in 2012: there’s no doubt for me,” said Hainer.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-16/liverpool-s-on-field-performance-didn-t-warrant-price-adidas-head-says.html


So dose this mean  the like of Chelsea are selling more jerseys then us.

I commented on this in the Warrior thread and I just feel it's a bit of sour grapes. Warrior came in with a fantastic offer that Adidas couldn't or wouldn't match.

I'm sure they would love to still be our kit supplier and I can't imagine the likes of Chelsea selling more than us.

In terms of global sponshorship,this is akin to us losing CL status.We need to get back there quickly.Nowadays the game has been corrupted,in favour of Commercial interests,winning a domestic Cup competition,gives "bragging rites", but European football,especially the ECL determines the success of the club financially.We need to be in it,top 4 failure is not an option.NESV and Dalgleish/Comolli.need to respond now.

This is just Warrior stepping up to take a gamble. Warrior makes some great Lacross and Hockey gear! This is a bold move for them, they put all thier chips on this.  If it works out, LFC won't be the only team wearing it!

I have no idea what this mean's for how many jersey's etc we're going to sell.But surely if we can spend that money wisely we can go back where we belong in the champions league and fighting for titles and that in itself will boost sales.

And when our performance were at the optimum with rafa in the league and europe the adidas sponsorship did not warrant the price they were paying as the exposure of the teams exploits under rafa were exceptional.

Adidas have had it F***ing cheap with us.

Absolutely the club's performance have not been good enough but the fact is Liverpool shirts sell like hot cakes around the world and that just makes the statement quite empty. It certainly a case of Warrior coming in and warding adidas off.

Adidas AG (ADS) declined to renew its apparel deal with 18-time English soccer champion Liverpool because the price was too high given the team’s poor performance, the chief executive officer of the world’s second- biggest sporting goods maker said today...

...“The gap between their performance on the field and what the number should be is not in balance,” Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer said in an interview in Munich today. “Then we said, ‘Okay we will not do it. That’s the end of the story.’”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-16/liverpool-s-on-field-performance-didn-t-warrant-price-adidas-head-says.html

This statement sounds a lot like sour grapes to be honest. Yeah I can see that Adidas wouldn't be getting as much T.V. coverage, (advertising), as before but the fact remains: our replica shirt an merchandise sales are always very high.

Surely sales are the point behind advertising and their loss in sales would out-weigh their sponsorship costs? Strange.

 I think it's poor form. If you don't do the deal, you walk away and deal with someone else which I'm sure Adidas will anyway. What you don't do is bleat about "performance on the pitch" and other such bollocks. We ask a price, they pay it or they don't.

Totally agree, bigmick. Not sure what they hoped to achieve from such a statement other than to make themselves look like tw*ts. It sounds like the Warrior deal is done so ADIDAS aren't going to get a better price out of us.

I would imagine Adidas were keen to keep the contract and were blown away by Warrior and are now pissed off they don't have Liverpool FC on their books.

I struggle to think of any club who Adidas have who would sell more merchandise than us and they have lost that now.

The whole deal with Warrior seems like it will only benefit the club so I'm not too bothered what Adidas think or say about it.

What, and the performances of someone like Derby or Stoke did warrant being with Adidas I
Like Adidas as much as the next guy but as others have said, just sounds like sour grapes. Warrior came in with a better offer and Adidas didn't want to match it. Have to e honest though, would far prefer Adidas. Think Warrior shirts look cheap and fake. Maybe that will change when I see it in the flesh as opposed to in pictures.

Yeah cos all these teams are pulling trees up ............


 Chelsea
 Derby County
 Forest Green Rovers
 Hull City
 Liverpool(Ending 2012/13)
 Macclesfield Town
 Middlesbrough
 North Ferriby United
 Sholing
 Stoke City
 Swindon Town
 Vauxhall Motors
 West Bromwich Albion
 Worksop Town

Yeah cos all these teams are pulling trees up ............


 Chelsea
 Derby County
 Forest Green Rovers
 Hull City
 Liverpool(Ending 2012/13)
 Macclesfield Town
 Middlesbrough
 North Ferriby United
 Sholing
 Stoke City
 Swindon Town
 Vauxhall Motors
 West Bromwich Albion
 Worksop Town

 I don't think Adidas's point (such as it is) is that a team is required to win the Champions League every season in order to warrant branded shirts. Clearly they are making a corrulation (quite rightly) between the price and the amount of success/exposure. That is only natural for them to do that (they wouldn't give a pub team 10 million quid a year obviously), but it is ethically extemely poor business to discuss things so bitterly.

Should be in the Warrior thread really.

The deal ends this summer.

New Warrior kits in June/July.

Won't be the first time Adidas messed up...

Michael Jordan: Adidas's Biggest Mistake!

Adidas rep sound bitter!

The premise of an investment is that the party who makes such a commitment for their eventual profit does so in good faith and in a long term situation.
Sponsorship qualifies an investment and to act as Adidas have done is reneging on their side of the deal, to say nothing of making negative comments about their former business associate.
Thoroughly short sighted work practice describes it perfectly.

It's not us it's you Adidas.
It's over.

I take it Adidas weren't in favour of the N.A.P.M campaign.

The deal ends this summer.
New Warrior kits in June/July.

Christ !!...Thats another whoppin hole in my wallet when my kids want the new one home away & third....

Christ !!...Thats another whoppin hole in my wallet when my kids want the new one home away & third....

Hang on to the old one's mate, they'll be worth more than you paid for soon enough - F**k it just hang on to them anyway.

Now aren't we Adidas 2nd biggest selling jersey world wide, and not far behind real Madrid. 

Yeah they are sour.  They wanted us cheap.  But are they forgetting how big our brand is worldwide?

Agnes in Huyton can knock a few kits up.
Give her a Gin and she's anybodys.

F**k Adidas, who f***in cares what this no mark says,Adidas need LFC more than LFC need Adidas, Warrior offered a better deal than them,so F**k 'em', dog eat dog in commercial sports world, we have 11 years of Warrior to look forward to,and within that time we will be back at the top of European and world football, i wonder what the f**ker will say about us then, as he chokes on his humble pies, tw*t !

We can criticize him for his language/bad business approach, etc., but Hainer is kind of right (kind of). 25 million for a club that has failed to qualify for the Champions League in two successive seasons (+ failed to advance out of the group the season before) is steep. A very big risk in the hopes of future success, but surely adidas has that kind of money, anyway? Plus our global popularity. But I understand adidas' position.

Hang on to the old one's mate, they'll be worth more than you paid for soon enough - f**k it just hang on to them anyway.

I do mate..there all hanging up in their wardrobes...even Ive still got that bad grey Candy away top..I can't look at it without having nightmare flashbacks of that FA Cup semi final against Crystal Palace...
The only one Ive ever binned was my son's Torres's top end of last January...
My favourite was the European Cup winning tops from 77&78..no fancy pipping or stripes..Just plain blood Red !!..
Still I'm not looking forward to the check out bill when my two lads hit the LFC store in July....I just pray the new one doesn't have shoulder pads and  the squad number on the arms...

Good.

Whats the difference between Torres in a Chavski strip and a Reds strip?
Zilch except the colour.
It will be nice not be an Adidas clone anymore.

Bye Bye Herbert.   Keep your millions .. ripping off people. 

Well, if a partner and contributor to our club goes public and caustic is such a manner, then it leaves all supporters with no alternative but to boycott “ALL” that organisations merchandise.

Unfollowed them and unsubscribed.
F**k off Adidas.

Good.

Whats the difference between Torres in a Chavski strip and a Reds strip?
Zilch except the colour.
It will be nice not be an Adidas clone anymore.

Bye Bye Herbert.   Keep your millions .. ripping off people. 

Spot on. Really liked those tracksuit tops the team wear b4 a game until I saw the Chavs wore the same.

I have a friend that plays Semi-Pro Hockey here in the US and the sais the Warrior gear is right up there with the best of what everyone out there offers.  Hope they just have a good design team, haha!

Well, if a partner and contributor to our club goes public and caustic is such a manner, then it leaves all supporters with no alternative but to boycott “ALL” that organisations merchandise.

Agreed, as posted previously it is a bad way to conduct your affairs, a dignified silence would have been more appropriate.

We can criticize him for his language/bad business approach, etc., but Hainer is kind of right (kind of). 25 million for a club that has failed to qualify for the Champions League in two successive seasons (+ failed to advance out of the group the season before) is steep.

I take your point, mate but this is the key...

Plus our global popularity

We're not Chelsea. When we miss out on the Champions League we still sell an insane amount of merchandise worldwide.

Pahaha, sour grapes Adidas. Pretty sure they've made a mistake here, and Warrior can reap the rewards.

Personally I'm looking forward to some unique kits from Warrior this summer. No more Adidas clones! (even if some of them are very smart)

i thought i read somewhere that barca sell most shirts, Real on 2nd, then mancs and we are in 4th place. Not bad that we are number 4th in the whole world.

Who gives a shi*. Warrior are paying more to make our kit then addidas would. End of. The gear wont look too much different in the end

Business is a funny old game, a bit like football. When we are on the way up we may pass Adidas on the way down.

Love that.

PS Need to change you posts to 667. You don't want to stay there. 

They have lost out on global merchandising opportunities and royalties and perhaps to american company Nike in the future. Definitely gutted. No sporting goods company would want to lose a deal the way Adidas did.

I have some sympathy here for Adidas, I think they came in after we had just won the FA Cup in 2006.

We, the manager, the players were promised the earth, the glory days were on the way back, all was great. New owners, loads of money, then

We were promised the earth and in fact what we received was debt, sold our better players, the sacking of 2 managers, another change of owner, a huge legal battle, and a brand spanking new picture of an imaginary ground.

Maybe it is not just the teams performance he is moaning about, but also the executive offices performance too.

The lack of top flight european football means that the 3 stripes are not being televised, thus lack of exposure.

So what are they paying for?

The knowledge that they make shirts for an underperforming team, that will not be being televised on the big stage, and will not be increasing its fan base, as it is not winning any trophies.

He may be right! Times are hard, and Adidas need to make a profit, may be with us they are not making that profit, just a thought.

But saying that, thanks Adidas for some great shirts, but you also made some poor ones too.

Goodbye Adidas, and Hello Warrior.

I have some sympathy here for Adidas, I think they came in after we had just won the FA Cup in 2006.

We, the manager, the players were promised the earth, the glory days were on the way back, all was great. New owners, loads of money, then

We were promised the earth and in fact what we received was debt, sold our better players, the sacking of 2 managers, another change of owner, a huge legal battle, and a brand spanking new picture of an imaginary ground.

Maybe it is not just the teams performance he is moaning about, but also the executive offices performance too.

The lack of top flight european football means that the 3 stripes are not being televised, thus lack of exposure.

So what are they paying for?

The knowledge that they make shirts for an underperforming team, that will not be being televised on the big stage, and will not be increasing its fan base, as it is not winning any trophies.

He may be right! Times are hard, and Adidas need to make a profit, may be with us they are not making that profit, just a thought.

But saying that, thanks Adidas for some great shirts, but you also made some poor ones too.

Goodbye Adidas, and Hello Warrior.

Good post, understandable we get defensive on the comments they made, but in reality RP pretty much is spot on. They have a business to run and shareholders to be responsible to. In the end probably had run its course and the fact that all non-kit merchandise is now under our control and not theirs is a better deal for us anyway. 

My first and only kit was last years away white/red stripes, pretty classy top that one is.

In my opinion, Adidas' performance didn't match Liverpool's expectations.

I mean,

WTF?

In my opinion, Adidas' performance didn't match Liverpool's expectations.

I mean,

WTF?

Its a nice shirt!!

its just not us!

Ban on all Adidas things for me.

In my opinion, Adidas' performance didn't match Liverpool's expectations.

I mean,

WTF?

Hahaha spot on!
Nevertheless I like Adidas, they make good stuff. But I can not see how the club is not going to benefit from the new deal with Warrior. They are going to give more money to the club annually and anyone around the world who wants a Liverpool jersey is still going to buy it as long as Warrior is represented there.

Adidas?  Like I said elsewhere.
Theres always Rumania for them.

Pure sour grapes from Adidas there - Warrior came in and doubled their price and they sh*t it. The shirt sales are what matters and ours are fantastic, even after the past few seasons.

Ah well. I don't wear plain Adidas gear anyway. Adidas Originals are a completely different company.

Nice one Adidas, don't think it's worth the sponsorship money? We've been their second best selling club shirt worldwide for the past 5 years (behind Real Madrid) and we are amongst the top 5 globally in terms of fan base (along with Scum, Real, Barca and possibly Flamengo).

Absolute tools.

Good move by Warrior though, as a new entrant to a new market, they had the balls to take a risk, splash out and their faith will pay off.

Since when does performance of our team make a difference to LIVERPOOL fans weather we buy the strip or not... None what so ever we buy the strips reguardless of how it looks or where Liverpool finish at the end of season..
I think it just sour grapes from Adidas ..And I think they are going to miss our sales ...
Liverpool FC has a world wide fan base this is a massive blow to Adidas

Since when does performance of our team make a difference to LIVERPOOL fans weather we buy the strip or not... None what so ever we buy the strips reguardless of how it looks or where Liverpool finish at the end of season..
I think it just sour grapes from Adidas ..And I think they are going to miss our sales ...
Liverpool FC has a world wide fan base this is a massive blow to Adidas

it doesn't affect the existing lfc fans but it will certainly affect attracting the younger generation who don't know our history.

kids you speak to nowdays are supporting scum and chavski more and more. we can't have a romantic view of the world with our rose tinted glasses where we only want fans with knowledge of our history. the world is changing and we have to attract new fans with our football first. we then keep the real fans by introducing them to the lfc ethos...that is passion, loyalty, humility, intelligence and a history we can be proud of.

it's naive to to just rely on our history (i'm not saying we do, because we have a growing fan base in asia and south america), but we're certainly not fulfilling our potential for as long as we're not winning trophies.

Was gonna treat myself to some Sambas forget it now

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2012/10/08/exclusive-manchester-united-and-real-madrid-top-global-shirt-sale-charts-081001/

How much is his opinion worth to LFC? That's right absolutely F**k all.

Cannot believe Chelsea sell more shirts then us. Even surprised Arsenal did.

Cannot believe Chelsea sell more shirts then us. Even surprised Arsenal did.

We still sell more than AC and Inter combined.
Will be interesting to see how Warrior impacts on the sales.
Well obviously we will cease to be in the Adidas/Nike reports, but how will it impact the distribution.

Always interested in the sales of other merchandise too.
Never included, but I guarantee it's massive for Liverpool. I see some outlets here are stocking the
Liverpool own range gear in stores. No Warrior gear and no other football merchandise just the LFC range.

Chelsea selling that much shows how many glory hunters there is expect a spike in man city jerseys soon.

Saying that's its probably roman buying up jerseys in bulk to help with financial fair play.

Cannot believe Chelsea sell more shirts then us. Even surprised Arsenal did.

You can't count?

Arsenal 800,000 in sales, LFC 810,000.

Which is the larger number?

How much is his opinion worth to LFC? That's right absolutely F**k all.

Amen. Exactly my thoughts.