How Nike Took Over The World Cup 🌍
Plus, Is the Super League dead? Will Amazon buy Man United? and how Michael Jordan became a trophy. 🏆
In the 90s it was said that ‘Nike knows nothing about football and football knows nothing about Nike.’
That wasn’t far from the truth. Just look at the kit sponsorship breakdown between Adidas and Nike at the 1990 World Cup:
🇩🇪 Adidas: 15 teams
🇺🇸 Nike: 0 teams
But fast forward to today and it’s a completely different picture:
📉 Adidas: 7 teams
📈 Nike: 13 teams
Nike is now the biggest kit supplier at the World Cup and sponsors some of the biggest nations including France, England, and Brazil.
With Adidas now facing fierce competition for the dominance of football, the World Cup has become a battleground where the two brands look to be associated with the biggest moments.
So, what about this year? Which brand has won the 2022 World Cup? Discover the answer in our latest YouTube video.
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🏀 Michael Jordan was so good at winning trophies he has actually become a trophy.
Yes, the NBA has just revealed that the MVP award will be renamed ‘The Michael Jordan Trophy.’
This is a rather fitting honour considering that the man himself picked up six MVP awards across his 15-year NBA career.
The trophy stands at 23.6 inches (60cm) tall and weighs 23.6 pounds (10kg), a nod to the 23 Jordan wore on his jersey and his six NBA championship titles.
This award is part of a wider attempt by the NBA to acknowledge legends of the past, with a total of six trophies in the works to be re-branded with the names of former NBA stars.
Some have even suggested that this is the perfect opportunity for the NBA to make the ultimate tribute to Kobe Bryant.
📈 From the most valuable player in the NBA to the most valuable team.
The Golden State Warriors have just been announced as the most valuable team in the NBA at just over $7.5 billion according to Sportico.
This is a 25% year-on-year increase for the Warriors and helps the team knock the New York Knicks into second place.
The top 5 are as follows:
🔵🟡 Golden State Warriors - $7.5B
🟠🔵 New York Knicks - $6.6B
🟣🟡 LA Lakers - $6.4B
🔴⚪️ Chicago Bulls - $4B
🟢⚪️ Boston Celtics - $3.9B
The average NBA team is now worth a record $3 billion, while the 30 teams are worth a collective $90 billion.
But these lofty valuations are just half of the picture, when the biggest sports brands actually end up on the market their valuations can skyrocket.
Just look at Manchester United.
In May 2022, Forbes valued United at about $4.6 billion, but the current owners have just put the club up for sale and are asking for at least $7 billion.
With anyone looking to invest needing deep pockets, there have been reports that both Amazon and Apple are considering making bids to buy United.
Both companies certainly have the money. Apple brings in almost $400 billion each year, while Amazon generates about $500 billion. That’s enough to buy 3125 Mbappés each season!
The idea of these companies buying a football team is not too far-fetched. Amazon has been busy buying up rights for the Premier League and Champions League and may see the ownership of a team as the next level up in creating and selling entertainment from football. Apple has also made moves in football, but may actually be trying to buy United so they can appoint Ted Lasso as the head coach.
That being said, these deals may be impossible. The U.K. competition regulators blocked the Sky Group from purchasing United in 1999 on the grounds that having a media company, which owns the rights to show the Premier League, own one of the teams could be a threat to the competitive integrity of the league.
🚨 Talking of losing competitive integrity, there’s an update on the future of the Super League…and it’s not great news for the rebels.
When their project initially collapsed, the remaining members of the Super League (Madrid, Juventus, and Barcelona) launched a case against UEFA in the European Union Courts arguing that UEFA was breaching competition law by threatening the breakaway clubs with fines and expulsion.
While any final decision will not land until at least March next year, the attorney general of the court has given a non-binding opinion where he argues that UEFA is fully within its rights to prevent and punish any attempts to make a Super League.
For anyone confused, the attorney general is tasked with assessing the case before it goes in front of the judges and offers a legal opinion that the judges will often follow.
This is bad news for the Super League. If the court re-affirms UEFA’s powers to protect the football pyramid it will be almost impossible to convince other clubs to break away.
Check out this thread if you want to learn more about it:
❤️ This World Cup, despite its many problems and controversies, has reaffirmed the power of football to create moments of pure magic.
These moments don’t just happen through goals and victories, but also through small acts of kindness.
Just like in this video: