Liverpool sign Warrior kit deal - The Kop Blog post - Liverpool FC
Liverpool Football Club has been constantly changing under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group. The shirt sponsor changed (before FSG arrived) and Fenway Sports Group has signed a deal with Boston-based company Warrior Sports in affiliation with New Balance. The deal is worth £25m-a-year.
The deal is a record for English football shirts, and is twice the payout what current kit providers adidas provide. Warrior, a subsidiary of New Balance, will take over from adidas for the 2012-2013 campaign, and is expected to be a long term deal; one that puts Manchester United's £23.5m-a-year deal with Nike into shade.
This will be a huge blow to adidas, who have manufactured Liverpool's kits for the past several seasons. Liverpool's kit is the fourth highest selling replica in the world, with around 900,000 kits sold annually, beaten only by Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Liverpool's owner John Henry stated when he took over that the club would no longer be "buying on credit", and would only spend money the club generate. With Liverpool set to miss out on another season of Champions League football, the deal will give the Anfield outfit a bit of extra muscle in the transfer market.
The company was bought out by New Balance in 2004, and has been tranformed from a niche-market brand to one big enough to sign a multi-year deal with Major League Baseball giants Boston Red Sox.