When Newcastle leaked it was teaming up with Adidas on the Amazon Prime documentary it was met with universal approval from Newcastle fans.
The brand is one of the biggest sportswear manufacturers in the world and famously designed Newcastle’s shirts during the swashbuckling side of the 1990s, when the Magpies thrilled the league with no holds barred attacking football featuring the likes of David Ginola, Alan Shearer and Faustino Asprilla.
Not only will the deal a be huge boost in revenue for Newcastle, Adidas promoting the club to one of its ‘Elite’ teams will have a huge list of benefits for fans of the club too.
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Adidas’ Elite clubs are a hand-picked collection of teams that get particularly special treatment from the kit maker. Newcastle’s promotion puts them in a field of teams that include revenue powerhouses Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
Adidas choose its teams carefully; Brazilian giants Flamengo were chosen as an Elite site in the early 2010s because Adidas wanted to ramp up their presence in Brazil in the run up to the 2014 World Cup. However, it then dropped Flamengo down from Elite tier a few years later.
It’s an exclusive club and means a huge number of benefits are available to Newcastle. The team will have a uniquely designed kit that will feature extra design flourishes compared to the likes of Leeds, Leicester City and other non-Elite sides. It will also allow fans to buy higher quality ‘authentic’ versions of the shirts.
This means hand-stitched badges and better quality all round on team worn kits, while fans will also be able to buy these versions. Expect prices of around £110 for the authentic shirt and around £80 for the stadium version in adult sizes when the Newcastle kit does arrive in June.
Elite teams like Newcastle will also be part of Adidas’ regular launches of training shirts including events such as Chinese New Year, when the likes of Real Madrid get special designs.
Fans can also expect unique training gear and even the possibility of special edition Newcastle Adidas trainers. The Adidas Flamengo trainers were some of the best items to be released during the Elite partnership and a black and white Newcastle pair would be snapped up by fans of terrace culture.
Fans can expect the Newcastle 2024/25 home kit launch in June. Last year Adidas revealed the Manchester United shirt on 27 June and the Real Madrid shirt was released at around the same time. These are Adidas’ two key Elite clubs and if Newcastle are following in their footsteps there will be a similar early summer launch of the first of the Newcastle kits.
The kit design has not yet been revealed but while Real Madrid’s new Adidas home shirt is a simple design reminiscent of the early 2000s Adidas shirt, Newcastle’s is likely to go back a little further and focus on the 1990s designs.
Craig Buglass, former Nike and Puma designer and agency owner working with Adidas, says: “I’ve been lucky enough to be subject to what the kits are going to look like and I’ve got to say the fans will be absolutely blown away,” the 51-year-old told ChronicleLive. “If you see all of the work that they have done with Arsenal and Man United, what we experienced in the ’90s is just going to be overshadowed a zillion times. The plans that they have got in place for the team are going to be amazing.
Expect a round neck collar, the classic Adidas stripes on the sleeves and, new this year, a larger Adidas badge without the brand’s actual name on in a bigger, more simplistic logo. The sponsor will remain as Sela – no Newcastle Brown Ale for this shirt.
How will the deal benefit Newcastle commercially?
The move is one of the first steps in Newcastle’s commercial overhaul. The Adidas deal brings in £40m per year for five years, a huge increase on the unpopular Castore deal that brought in just £5m per year.
Newcastle increased revenue from £180m to nearly £250m from 2022 to 2023 but the club’s overall revenue is still less than half of that of even the lowest-earning of the traditional ‘top six’ in Spurs. Deals of the magnitude of the Adidas deal is essential in quickly bridging the gap.
The deal will allow Newcastle to finally be able to overhaui their retail operation and sell shirts directly to fans. It will be freedom from the restrictive and unpopular exclusivity deals signed with giant mug-seller Sports Direct under the shambolic ownership of Mike Ashley.
Darren Eales, CEO of Newcastle United. on announcing the deal, said: “A vital element of this new agreement will see Newcastle United rebuilding its own retail operations both in store and online, locally and globally.”
The freedom to build a new and more efficient retail operation means Newcastle are accelerating their speed run to Europe’s top table but the club is keen for any partnership to recognise their heritage too.
Peter Silverstone, Newcastle United’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are delighted to have agreed a new multi-year partnership with adidas from summer 2024. The history and heritage between the two brands is obviously very compelling and exciting.
“This partnership will help us to deliver on our ambitious brand and commercial strategy. Importantly, it will allow us to rebuild a direct retail relationship with our current, and future, local and global fanbase. We know our fans will support us on this exciting journey.”
Away from the commercial aspect the kudos of appearing in smart Adidas shirts will be a boon to fans who will be pleased to see the back of Castore. The team will look fantastic, the deal will bring in new revenue and fans will finally have a retail operation that meets that of the bigger clubs.
Main pic: Koriela, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
