Messi’s Move and the Adidas Victory: What This Major Deal Means for Your Sports Career

With all of the hype of Messi joining Inter Miami CF, you may be missing one of the biggest winners of the deal: adidas. Here’s how, and what this breaking news can mean for your career 👇

This win comes at an important time for Adidas:

⚽️ Adidas is the longest-running brand partner in Major League Soccer history, In February, they signed a six-year, $830M extension with the MLS for rights to on-field jerseys, training apparel, and the official game ball.

📉 Adidas cut ties with Kanye West in 2022, and the resulting loss of the Yeezy brand cost the company $425M in lost sales in Q1 2023. They started reselling Yeezy shoes earlier this month.

🥈 Adidas recorded $24B revenue in FY 2022, compared with Nike’s $47B. This partnership with Messi could be a flagship deal to help close the gap.

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Adidas took an extraordinary step in this deal to bring Messi to the US, offering a “profit sharing agreement” on the side, which includes “a cut of any increase in Adidas’ profits resulting from his involvement in MLS.”

What does that mean? It means that every jersey sale is a…

👑 Win for Messi — He can put his 469M Instagram followers to work for himself and “own” his growth.

🏟 Win for the MLS — Per CBS, 11–15% of jersey sales go back to leagues, which are then shared with teams. In 2022, new sales on MLSstore.com grew 10% YoY, lead by Gareth Bale’s Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) jersey, a growth rate set to jump with Messi’s star power.

👥 Win for other MLS players — Small cuts of sales will likely be shared with the MLS Players Association.

🎽 Win for Adidas — They are following the strategy that their North America President, Rupert Campbell, laid out in April: “Double down on all things that are U.S.-centric, particularly around sports.”

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💡 If you’re building your career in sports, I encourage you to consider how breaking news will flow through the entire industry’s ecosystem.

Consumer products is one of the core the pillars driving revenue in sports, and it’s impact on the MLS (and other leagues) stands to grow.

Adidas is also not the only consumer product brand to watch. Nike, Under Armour, PUMA Group, lululemon, Fanatics, Legends, BDA, LLC, Franklin Sports, HOKA, On, and many others brands are all innovating in the sports merchandising and licensing ecosystem.

Explore 190+ jobs in retail, merchandise, and licensing on TeamWork Online: https://lnkd.in/gjQh6DHu

What trends are you following in sports apparel and merchandising which are driving the sports industry’s growth? ⬇️

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🚀 Onward!