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Major League Soccer (MLS) has penned a six-year extension of its league-wide kit supplier partnership with Adidas, which is worth US$830 million according to US media reports.
Contract:
- German sportswear giant will continue to supply all 29 teams’ kits, training apparel, and footwear as well as the official match ball
- Agreement runs until the end of the 2030 season
- Adidas and MLS will partner on initiatives and investments ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup in North America
Context:
The renewal is Adidas’ largest investment in North American soccer to date and extends a league-wide relationship first penned in 2004. The current deal signed in 2017 is worth a reported US$700 million, and expires after the 2024 season.
For Adidas, the deal follows the recent termination of the brand’s long-term partnership with Kanye West amid fallout from the music icon’s antisemitic comments, a move which CNBC reports could result in losses of US$1.3 billion in 2023. The company has also confirmed it will not renew a similar league-wide partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) when it expires in 2024.
Coming next:
The contract extension comes at a pivotal time for North American soccer just three years out from the 2026 World Cup, which will be staged across the US, Canada and Mexico. Adidas will gain significant exposure from its activations with MLS in the buildup to the tournament.
As the World Cup approaches, MLS is seeing significant commercial growth. Current champions Los Angeles FC recently became the first club to reach a valuation of more than US$1 billion according to Forbes, while the average franchise is now worth US$579 million, an uptick of 85 per cent since 2019.
At the conclusion of last season, LAFC’s win over the Philadelphia Union in the MLS Cup reached 2.16 million US viewers, marking the largest audience for the showpiece game in 25 years. Meanwhile, the 2023 MLS season, which kicks off on 25th February, marks the first season of a landmark ten-year US$2.5 billion Apple deal that will see all games air on Apple TV.
