SPORT Adidas-Salomon will announce a 10-year, $100m sponsorship deal of Major League Soccer in the US on Tuesday, aimed at cementing its leadership of the US football market.
The agreement comes amid fierce competition between the world number- two sporting goods maker and Nike, its larger rival, for dominance of the global football market.
The deal is an important boost for the nine-year-old US league as it attempts to popularise a game that remains a tough sell for many Americans.
Adidas will have exclusive rights to branded clothing and equipment for Major League Soccer from next season, when it will expand from 10 to 12 teams. The German company will also supply match balls, have pitchside advertising, and be the only sports brand advertised during TV broadcasts of MLS games.
In addition, it will be the only sports brand advertised during English-language US broadcasts of the 2006 World Cup from Germany - although not on Spanish-language channels Telemundo and Univision. The deal's size was not disclosed. But people familiar with the situation suggested it was in excess of $100m.
"We see the US market as one of the most important markets in terms of growth rate," said Erich Stamminger, chief executive of Adidas America.
Football in the US had 17.6m participants in 2002, according to the US National Soccer Players Association, up from 15.4m in 1987. Some 70 per cent are under 18, with football becoming a mainstay of suburban schools' sports programmes, and thriving in the Hispanic population.
But Major League Soccer has struggled to translate football's popularity as a participant sport into spectator numbers - though it has largely overcome questions over its viability that dogged its early years.
The aggressive move by Adidas is further evidence of the growing polarisation in sporting goods.
Like other sports, the sale of football boots, clothing and equipment has become largely a two-horse race between Adidas and Nike, with both competing for potential customers' attention by signing more extravagant endorsement deals.
Nike is in the third year of a £300m ($535m) deal with Manchester United, having signed a similar endorsement with the Brazilian national side.
Adidas has extended contracts with both Real Madrid and one of its star players, David Beckham, this year. It also claims it is number one in US football, with about 50 per cent of the market.
