Manchester United Sign £750m Adidas Deal

Manchester United (NYSE: MANU - news) have agreed a record-breaking £750m kit sponsorship deal wth Adidas (Other OTC: ADDDF - news) after Nike (Sao Paolo: NIKE34.SA - news) walked away from contract extension talks.

The 10-year agreement, starting at the beginning of the 2015/16 season, dwarfs the £150m deal over five years recently reached between Arsenal and Puma , which was in itself a UK record.

It was made as United prepared to begin the new Premier League campaign without the prospect of lucrative Champions League football following a disastrous 2013/14 season under David Moyes - now replaced as manager by Louis van Gaal, who led the Netherlands to third-place at the World Cup.

The eagerness of Adidas to make United's kit was seen as evidence of the durability of United's brand value despite its worst-ever Premier League campaign which resulted in a seventh-place finish in May.

The sums agreed by Adidas - described as a "minimum guarantee" by United - more than double the value of Nike's current contract, which has one more season to run.

The deal, worth £75m a year from 2015, was announced in a short statement after Nike ruled itself out on cost grounds, saying a trebling in the cost of its existing 13-year equipment supply contract was not good value.

Simon Leaf, a sports lawyer for Berwin Leighton Paisner, told Sky News: "This is yet another example of the power and global appeal of the English Premier League.

"At a time of apparent weakness, where Manchester United last season finished over 20 points behind the winners Manchester City, failing to qualify for Europe, Adidas has been prepared to break all previous records to secure the deal.

"Nevertheless, from a legal perspective, we would expect that the amounts quoted would only ever become payable if Manchester United return to winning ways and are able to add to the trophies won under Sir Alex Ferguson.

"This deal will be celebrated in many boardrooms of the top teams around Europe as a new benchmark".

Nike recently unveiled shirts for 2014/15 featuring a gold Chevrolet logo, marking the start of the American car-maker's £326m seven-year sponsorship deal with the team.

In a statement issued last week , Nike said: "Any partnership with a club or federation has to be mutually beneficial and the terms that were on offer for a renewed contract did not represent good value for Nike's shareholders".

Adidas last held the United contract between 1980 and 1992.