"NFL Scores as investor in Reebok-Adidas Deal" by Kevin Conlon

The NFL once again has flexed its collective muscle, and has landed a deal with the newly merging Adidas-Reebok team that will pay the NFL more than 25 million dollars. This is just the latest in a recent string of licensing agreements that the NFL has reached in the last year. They also signed new television deals that will pay them very heavily from NBC, ESPN, and CBS. The NFL also recently was able to acquire stock in the Sirius satelite radion company, which now holds all broadcast rights to the NFL.

The deal stems back to the 2002 season, in which Reebok initially made plans to become the official on field apparel sponsor for the NFL. But now, with Adidas in the process of aquiring Reebok, the result will be an even more lucrative deal for the NFL. The money made in this deal will be dispersed throughout all NFL teams.

The only setback to this deal is that it will not finalize until early next year, because that is when the the Adidas-Reebok takever will become official, and close. At this time, the NFL will negotiate terms for the new agreement with Adidas, and decide which brands and symbols, etc will be seen on the field, on the uniforms, etc.

In my opinion this is a great deal for the NFL, they get the support of two great sports apparel companies, and again will strike great profits from the deal. The NFL has clearly become the sport of choice in the U.S., and it can be seen by the domination and large spending that sponsors are willing to pay just to license the NFL products.