There is definitely a strong market for football jersey, which is manifested by the massive amount of football fans worldwide, who solidly identify themselves with specific clubs and players and thus with the heritage and/or traditions linked to these. The passionate and tribal behavior of these fans lead to light, moderate or heavy consumption patterns, which is displayed in the number of sold jerseys related to best football leagues, clubs and players, cf. the table 1 below.
2012/2013 Average Kit Supplier Fee (£mio.) | |
Premier League |
6.0 |
Primera División |
3.4 |
Serie A |
2.7 |
Bundesliga |
2.6 |
Ligue 1 |
1.4 |
Table 1. (Source: REPUCOM Kit Supplier Report 2012/2013; SportBusiness International, 2013)
The Premier League dominates the European football scene in this regard. The fact that American brands Warrior and Under Armour joined the league via kit supplier deals with Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur gave ‘added value’ to the league’s total revenues generated from kit suppliers. The report from REPUCOM, which is mentioned above, found that in the 2012/2013 season, the 20 clubs in the Premier League sold a total of five million replica shirts globally. That shows a progressive development compared with the 2011/2012 season where the total number of sold shirts was approximately four million. Five million shirts account for roughly double the number sold by the 18 teams in the German Bundesliga.
The Premier League has a significant global reach, which is an appealing argument when trying to persuade kit manufacturers to invest in Premier League teams. Warrior’s and Under Armour’s interest in the European football market has made it more beneficial for European top football clubs to negotiate new kit supplier deals. Recently, Arsenal signed a 5-year kit supplier deal with Puma (starting on the 1st of July, 2013), which is worth around $46 mio. annually (Sport Marketing Frontiers, 2013) and as long as the traditional suppliers continue their interest to invest it does not seem as things will slow down.
Sources:
REPUCOM Kit Supplier Report 2012/2013
SportBusiness International (2013). (190), June, 2013.
Sport Marketing Frontiers, 2013).
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