By Mark Baber
March 4 – US sportswear giant Nike is reportedly prepared to offer Barcelona €85 million a year, plus bonuses bringing the total up to €100 million to extend the current sponsorship contract which expires in 2018.
The news surfaces shortly after Barcelona’s transfer ban for breaking the regulations relating to child exploitation comes to an end, days after they renewed their deal with UNICEF until 2020 and whilst concerns over Nike’s unethical business practices grow in the wake of multiple bribery scandals and renewed concerns over the way their workers are treated in Vietnam and Indonesia.
According to Spain’s AS the duration of the contract between the two parties has not yet been agreed and although the talks are “advanced” there is still a way to go in the discussions which also involve control over the Nou Camp FCB Megastore . If the figure proves to be correct, then Barcelona stands to receive nearly triple the amount of sponsorship money it receives under the current arrangement (which at €35 million per season is already one of the most lucrative kit supplier deals of all time) and the deal would be on a par with that signed by Manchester United and Adidas.
Nike’s relationship with Barcelona began in 1998 and over the years the relationship with the club has proved important for Nike in selling merchandise, made in sweatshop conditions, to consumers around the world. Criticism of the brand became muted as Nike adopted codes of conduct to improve worker conditions, but recently concerns have increased as attention has focused on low wages and poor conditions in their Vietnamese factories which employ a reported 330,000 workers and where a reported 43% of Nike’s shoes are made. Attempts to organise independent trade unions to improve conditions have been met by violence and imprisonment of activists by the authorities and the company has reportedly refused to allow an independent monitoring group into one factory after a series of walkouts.
In recent months, questions have also been raised about Nike’s role in the football corruption scandal, with the company having been identified as the “multinational sportswear company headquartered in the US” which is listed in a US indictment as having agreed to pay a Traffic affiliate an additional $40 million on top of the $160 million it initially agreed to pay for sponsorship of the Brazilian national team.
Nike, of course, says that it “believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery.”
A renewed and upscaled deal with Barcelona would be a strong indication of the resilience of the company and its continued power within football in the face of multiple scandals and despite having recently lost Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Chelsea from its portfolio. It would also represent a further centralisation of wealth and power within a small circle of elite clubs – one of the issues central to FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne’s recent campaign.
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