The Controversial Business of Kylian Mbappé
Plus: De Bruyne signs with Mcdonalds and Nike takes advantage of Adidas' struggles.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
If you could appear on the cover of any magazine, which would you choose?
This may seem like an odd question, but it’s exactly what 15-year-old Kylian Mbappé and his teammates at the Monaco academy were asked to consider during a class.
While most of his teammates chose to appear on the cover of GQ or Vogue, Mbappé dreamt of being featured in Time magazine.
Just four years later, he achieved this dream.
The fact that young Mbappé was already imagining himself in a position reserved for the most influential members of society says a lot.
He was already thinking about his public image, both on and off the pitch, and had a vision for it.
Mbappé’s business world is a fascinating place, and we decided to make a whole video about it:
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🍔 Kevin De Bruyne Signs With Mcdonalds.
Talking of carefully cultivated images, did you know that Kevin De Bruyne is famous on TikTok for going to Mcdonalds? The Belgian star posted a video showing the highlights of his day, which culminated in a quick stop for some happy meals. The clip has gained 41 million views and even some parodies.
This probably explains why Mcondalds has just signed the Man City midfielder and his wife as brand ambassadors. The couple will promote Mcdonalds as a place that ‘brings families together’ while also supporting the Ronald Mcdonald Children's Fund.
This is also part of a wider strategy by De Bruyne and his team at Roc Nation Sports, who have said they want to position De Bruyne alongside global brands with a greater emphasis placed on his family life.
🏒 A Hockey Game Like No Other
The NHL has a problem. The average age of its audience is 52 years old and is overwhelmingly male. This isn’t a great sign for the league’s future, as it is clearly struggling to engage the younger generations.
We already wrote a few weeks ago about how the NHL is attempting to rectify this by broadcasting a first-of-its-kind live animated stream of the game between the NY Rangers and the Washington Capitals.
The plan certainly seems to have worked. 176k people watched the animated stream, with a median age of 12 and around a 58% female audience.
This is great news for the NHL, but also for other leagues that are looking at ways to engage younger audiences. It looks like sticking the kids in front of cartoons is still the answer.
👟 The Boot Room
From Haaland signing with Nike to Adidas dropping Kanye West, it seems like there is always something big going on in the world of sports apparel. As you may have noticed from our videos, we are quite passionate about this space and thought it might be a good idea to dedicate a small part of this newsletter each week to breaking down the latest developments in the industry.
So, here goes…
This financial year was always going to be difficult for Nike as it coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, and supply chain issues. Nevertheless, the Swoosh’s Q3 results give the company a lot to celebrate.
Overall revenues have risen 14% from the previous year, hitting $12.4 billion. This is thanks mostly to an increase in sales in North America.
Net income slid 11% to $1.2 billion, but a 20% rise in digital sales will encourage the brand that greater profitability is just around the corner.
According to some industry insiders, this recent sales boost has two main factors:
Doubling down on classic and retro lines.
Taking advantage of the Adidas/Kanye situation.
Nike has made a big play with product lines like the Jordan Retros, the Lebron 20s, and the classic Mercurial shoes. These have gone over well in key markets like China and North America. Meanwhile, Adidas is still reeling from its $600m split with Kanye West, a series of events that gave the brand unwanted bad press, and will have driven sales toward Nike.
🌟 There is some big news developing over at Adidas. The sportswear giant has reportedly agreed to end its partnership with Beyoncé. Reports suggest that the two parties had ‘major creative differences,’ with Beyoncé wanting greater control over her brand image.
There may also have been a financial motivation behind this split. Sales of the Ivy Park X Adidas range dropped from $91m in 2021 to just $40m in 2022. Reports suggest that half of the inventory went unsold last year, with Adidas suffering heavy losses.
🔥 Things aren’t looking great for Adidas. But in between burning millions of Yeezy sneakers and ditching Beyoncé, they have actually found some time to design football shirts.
Specifically, a new range for some of the teams going to the Women’s World Cup in July.
“Each federation kit is inspired by nature, celebrating the iconic scenery and diverse natural landscapes of each country – including the vast green woodlands of Germany, the sprawling glacial rivers of Sweden, and the ever-changing colors of the Caño Cristales River in Colombia,” explained Adidas in a press release.
Both the authentic and replica versions of these kits are actually made from a special yarn that contains 50% ocean plastic.
But the eco credentials are not the only thing worth noting. The simple fact that Adidas is making separate shirts for the women’s teams is a clear sign that the female game is taking its rightful place in the spotlight. It wasn’t long ago that the likes of Adidas and Nike simply re-purposed the men’s team kit with a different cut.
To learn more about the individual designs, click here
📱 Social Media Madness
👕 From football shirts that work in harmony with nature to some that are a complete affront to nature:
We found this incredible thread that showcases some of the craziest shirt designs through the years. If anyone has the 09/10 Getafe shirt, please get in touch, we want one.
📱 Messi is probably still riding a high from winning the World Cup earlier this year, and that’s probably why he decided to purchase these gold iPhone 14s for his Argentina teammates 🤩.
🏀 We finish this week with an oddly satisfying-to-watch video of a kid testing his basketball dribbling skills with a new game.