World Cup Runneth Over: adidas Signs $351M Pact With FIFA

adidas has signed a $351M deal to remain FIFA’s official sports equipment supplier from 2007-2014, with $215M coming in cash and $136M of value-in-kind service. FIFA President Sepp Blatter and adidas CEO Herbert Hainer today in Zurich signed the deal, which gives adidas core sponsorship rights to all FIFA events, including the World Cup in 2010 and 2014. adidas also supplies all sports equipment for every FIFA event, including match balls and uniforms for referees and delegations. adidas, a FIFA sponsor since ‘70, is the first company to sign as a FIFA sponsor for the 2007-2014 period. The ’06 World Cup will be held in Germany, adidas’ home country (THE DAILY).

HISTORY LESSON: In London, John Simmons reported a book by Conrad Brunner, entitled “All Day I Dream About Sport,” tells the story of the “rise, fall and rise again of the Adidas brand.” The book, to be released in April, features anecdotes from various athletes who wore adidas and “built the brand’s legend,” including Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali and Dick Fosbury, among others. Simmons wrote it is a “fascinating but convoluted story, with many changes of ownership and leadership along the way, but a simple truth runs through it –- if your sports equipment is seen to make great athletes even better, aspiring athletes will want to be associated with your brand” (London OBSERVER, 1/16).