Barcelona and Nike "have started talks to renegotiate their kit deal," which runs through '18, according to J.M. Bertran of SPORT. The "success that Barcelona is giving Nike on a merchandise and marketing level is one of the cards that Barcelona representatives can play to improve the club's position in revenue ranking" and renew the deal beyond '18. Barcelona's shirt has "become one of the most sold in the world." Barcelona "wants to continue its relationship with Nike, but in exchange," the club also wants more than the €30M ($41.7M) that it currently receives, which leaves it far from the $100M-a-year deal Nike recently reached with ManU, "which is currently in an athletic crisis" (SPORT, 3/12). In Barcelona, Marc Menchén reported Barcelona has "ceded global management of its online team store to Nike, which until now had managed the operation in only Portugal and Spain." Kitbag had "previously managed the store's requests from the rest of the world." Barcelona "expects the move to increase revenue going forward" (EXPANSIÓN, 3/10).
