Manchester United poised to sign record £300m kit deal with Nike

Another commercial goal for Manchester United as they ink new world record agreement with kit suppliers Nike

Defending Premier League champions Manchester United are all set to announce a world record deal worth £300m with American kit manufacturer Nike, according to the Daily Mail.

The deal, negotiations for which began at the start of September, is set to be announced on Friday with the new five-year agreement set to triple the amount of money that United currently receive from Nike under the terms of the current contract.

The deal when finalised will eclipse the current record deal which is held by Real Madrid and their German kit suppliers Adidas, said to be in the range of £31m-a-year. The United deal is said to be almost double of that.

Manchester United have also reportedly been given the sales rights too for their kits, which could fetch them another cool £15m per year. Hence, the potential total value of the deal stands at about £375m.

Nike have been associated with United for 13 years now since they took over as kit suppliers from Umbro in 2000. This latest extension, if allowed to run its course, could see United’s association with Nike cross the £1b in terms of revenue generated.

It represents the second major financial boost for United after the multi-million dollar deal with American carmaker Chevrolet, worth £357m due to kick in next year and run till 2021. United will sport the Chevrolet logo on their shirts from next season onwards in place of the current sponsor’s name – AON.

It has been a very lucrative year for the club’s commercial arm. It is set to open an office in New York soon which comes on the back of an office in Hong Kong that was opened last year. The commercial side of operations now contributes almost 42% of United’s total revenue in which sponsorship deals alone, until 2012, have touched £90.9m, representing an increase of 44.1% from earlier.

Despite this, the costs associated with the debt-financed takeover by the Glazers are still on the rise and is said to stand around £680m at the moment.