Chelsea FC Flick Adidas & Sign $121 Million A Season Shirt Deal With Rivals Nike

When famed English Premier League club Chelsea tore up its shirt sponsorship with adidas last week many thought the club was mad.

Chelsea pulled the pin on the deal – worth £30 million ($A58.8 million) a season – with six years still left to run on the contract and happily paid the £40 million ($A78.5 million) ‘get out’ clause to do it.

The famed London club believed its shirts were worth twice what the German sportswear manufacturer was paying, and it appears it was spot-on.

The UK’s The Telegraph is today reporting that Nike is the new kit sponsor and is set to pay a staggering £60 million ($A121 million) a season for the next 10 seasons for the rights to the famed blue kit.

And it’s clear the £40 million Chelsea had to pay to get out of its adidas contract will look like chicken feed as it now stands to make an extra £180 million ($A363 million) more had the original deal gone the distance.

The Telegraph is reporting that the new deal was thrust onto the Club after a rather dismal 2015-2016 season where it finished ninth and had no success in the spin-off European tournaments which all led to a significant hit to the bottom line.

When it comes to EPL teams if they fail to perform or, heaven forbid, get relegated then the sponsor has a ‘get out’ clause. Chelsea’s failure to qualify for the European Champions league last season reportedly cost the club £40 million ($A80.7 million) in sponsor bucks.

However, the new Nike deal is far from the EPL’s biggest. That honour still goes to Manchester United who get £175 million ($A353 million) a season from adidas.