Inside Liverpool's commercial juggernaut: New Adidas deal, 1.7bn engagements and why Asia matters

New York Times

3 days ago

According to figures from Blinkfire Analytics, Liverpool had 1.7billion engagements across all social media platforms last season — more than the top 10 teams in the NFL or the NBA combined. There were 60m alone on the April day when Arne Slot's side clinched the Premier League title.
Yet that is just one way in which the club's off-field operation has mushroomed in recent years. Over the past decade, commercial revenue has almost tripled. The last set of accounts for 2023-24 was significant in that, for the first time, commercial income (£308million) was more than half of total revenue (£614m). It was also the first time in the Premier League era that they had surpassed arch-rivals Manchester United (£303m) commercially.
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'There's been a step-change in terms of our revenue, but there's still a lot of room for us to grow,' Liverpool's chief commercial officer Ben Latty tells The Athletic. 'The potential is huge. I believe we're only just getting started in terms of where we can go as a commercial business. We have got the right people and the right structure in place to really kick on now.'
Out-performing United or trying to reel in Manchester City (£344million), the only Premier League club with a higher income commercially, isn't what drives Latty and his staff, who are dotted around offices all over the world. He insists he 'wouldn't even be able to tell you what their commercial numbers are'. Instead, Liverpool's ambition revolves around maximising revenues from streams they can influence.
'Controllable revenue — matchday and commercial — is what I'm focused on,' Latty says. 'Media money is great but, to an extent, it's based on the on-pitch performance. We have to be a football club which is sustainable in everything we do.'
Latty, who reports to Liverpool's CEO Billy Hogan, was promoted to the role of chief commercial officer in 2024, two years after returning to the fold as commercial director, having stepped down as head of global partnership sales in 2021 to join a group in Bristol operating professional teams in football, rugby union and basketball. The club have set up partnerships, with staff permanently based in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Boston and New York in the United States, and in London as well as on Merseyside at home.
Multi-million pound deals have been struck with high-profile blue-chip U.S.-based brands such as mobile-phone firm Google Pixel, fitness company Peloton, logistics and shipping giants UPS and digital strategists Orion Innovation. But the importance of the Asian market to Liverpool remains as strong as ever. According to the club's data, they have close to 250million fans across the continent, and it is their biggest region for retail revenue.
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Nine of Liverpool's 20 standalone retail stores across the world are in Asia, with the latest opening its doors in Hong Kong last week. They also have 48 official supporters' clubs spread across the continent. That is part of the appeal for shirt sponsors Standard Chartered and training kit sponsors AXA, as well as official partners such as Japan Airlines and Tokyo-based publisher Kodansha.
Liverpool's current pre-season tour, with money-spinning friendly matches in Hong Kong and Japan, ticks a lot of boxes.
'When it comes to tours, we always assess the market and look at different options both east and west,' Latty says. 'Before we made any decisions, we sat down with (sporting director) Richard Hughes, (his assistant) David Woodfine, (director of medicine and performance) John Power and others to go through all the options available.
'Some will be questioned based on football suitability, training facilities, et cetera. Football preparation is paramount, but the football-operations team understand the commercial value of these tours, too. For us, it's about bringing the club closer to fans who maybe can't get to Anfield.'
Twice during Brendan Rodgers' reign as manager, pre-season tours to Asia also involved fixtures in Australia. The only time Liverpool have gone there since 2015 was for a post-season friendly in Sydney in 2017. Was it ever on the agenda to visit Australia this time?
'There were some reports, but it was nowhere near advanced,' Latty says. 'We always look at it. We never rule it out, but for this tour specifically, the idea was that we would do these two games and then get back to Anfield.
'We would have looked to play another game at Anfield on top of Athletic Club (the Spanish side visit for two back-to-back games on Monday, August 4), but the success of the team meant we have the Community Shield to play (on August 10) before the Premier League game against Bournemouth on the Friday night (August 15). That meant the window was reduced.'
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In the past, Liverpool alternated their pre-season tours between the U.S. and Asia. How about 2026?
'We always start to look at our options a year out,' Latty says. 'That will be a mix of speaking to promoters or looking at how we could do it ourselves. If you do it yourself, you take some of that risk and back yourself in terms of filling stadia. The football side guides us in terms of what's best for the team, and then you also take into account what's going to give you commercial security and enable you to make the most of the window available to us.'
The links between the club's sponsors and Asia are clear, but there was no contractual obligation to play in either Hong Kong or Japan this summer.
'There are so many variables,' Latty explains. 'Stadium availability, opposition availability, making sure there are the right training facilities. There are no guarantees. But we know when a partner is focused on a certain market and if the stars align, then we try to make it work.'
Current deals with Standard Chartered and sleeve sponsor Expedia run until 2027, with discussions over possible extensions due to begin imminently.
'We'll be starting that process, both in terms of having discussions with the incumbent and naturally you'd expect us to go and talk to the market as well,' Latty says. 'At this time, I don't believe there's any bigger football club than Liverpool.'
There's the strange scenario on this tour of Liverpool playing in last season's Nike kit as their new deal with Adidas doesn't begin until August 1. It's down to the fact the start of Nike's five-year contract was delayed because the 2019-20 season was extended into the July due to a three-month hiatus enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Liverpool will wear Nike gear for the final time in a while against Yokohama F. Marinos at Nissan Stadium today (Wednesday) before flying home. The big Adidas launch will follow on Friday, with the flagship club store at Anfield reopening having undergone a major summer makeover.
'It's just the reality of the situation,' Latty says. 'When you think back to when we started the partnership with Nike, it was late because of Covid. One thing I will say is that Nike have been incredible. They said they would be good partners until the very end and they've been true to their word. In terms of providing the equipment and kit needed for this tour, they have delivered everything we asked for.
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'You tend to launch a new kit in May and potentially wear it for the final game of a season, depending on the significance of the fixture. We haven't been able to do that, but August 1 will be big for us.'
Latty insists there was never any prospect of an agreement being reached where Adidas would take over a few months early: 'We were always going to honour the contract with Nike. When we first entered into discussions with Adidas, it was always clear when we could start the partnership and everyone knew exactly where they stood. It won't happen again and won't really impact us.'
It means Liverpool have three new kits to launch in a short period of time — a process that will be staggered in the coming days.
The Adidas deal will certainly be more profitable for them than the Nike one. Figures remain confidential, and it will be partly linked to sales and team performance, but the yearly windfall will be a lot more than the figure of £60million per year which had previously been mooted.
A new club mobile app has been launched and, under the terms of the contract, Liverpool will continue to have the freedom to commission and sell their own branded merchandise through the club's retail operations.
'With kit deals, there are so many variables,' Latty adds. 'It's really hard to compare a kit deal with Liverpool to a kit deal with a competitor. The way we run our merchandising business is completely different to most other clubs as we do everything ourselves. Some clubs are happy to outsource it.
'For us, having flexibility and ensuring we get the product into the hands of our fans around the world through the right distribution network is really important.
'We had record kit sales year on year (with Nike). It was a competitive situation, and varying factors meant that Adidas were the party we moved forward with. They have been great in that, as long as it doesn't impact their business, we can do what we want. That's a successful part of the merchandising business we've got as we look to keep growing.
'As Billy Hogan said recently, we're one of the biggest clubs in the world and we want to act like it. That's the case both on and off the field.'