Liverpool are starting to see the rewards of their decision to leave New Balance for Nike two-and-a-half years ago.
The Reds began a partnership with the sportswear brand at the start of the 2020/21 season. It was seen as a move that would help to grow the commercial arm of the club. And now, as per The Athletic, it is starting to do just that.
Following the news that Liverpool are now the third richest club in the world, the outlet published a deep-dive into the Reds accounts.
As part of that, it’s claimed that Liverpool’s commercial income saw an increase of around £32.5m last season. This put their total commercial takings at close to the £242m mark.
Of course, this growth isn’t necessarily all down to Nike. But The Athletic suggest that it ‘appears’ to be the case that getting into bed with the industry giant has been beneficial to Liverpool.
Despite the Reds’ success though, they’re still reportedly behind Manchester United, Bayern Munich and PSG when it comes to commercial sales.
Liverpool catching up commercially
Some supporters have been a little disappointed by Nike’s efforts at Liverpool so far. The shirts have tended to be either bland or underwhelming.
But ultimately they were brought in to boost the revenue. The Reds’ on-field success last year has obviously helped that, but Nike are clearly doing something right, too.
As we saw just yesterday, they’ve now dropped another new training kit for supporters to gobble up as well.
Ultimately, Liverpool shouldn’t have to be reliant on shirt and kit sales to boost their revenue. But in the past that’s where the club has been left behind.
As Man United were savvy enough to jump on board the commercial train, Liverpool seemed to take an age to catch up.
With a big partner like Nike behind them, it seems that they’re starting to get there. There’s still a little way to go, but we’re moving in the right direction.
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