If you almost made a deal with New Balance and got a good offer from Castor, what Sao Paulo saw a new player emerge on the horizon to replace Adidas from next year. In fact, it’s an old fan acquaintance: Reebok, who wore the tricolor between 2006 and 2012, being three-time Brazilian champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

And the person responsible for demonstrating the American Reebok’s interest in the Morumbi club is one of its best-known representatives in Brazil: John Textor, the tycoon who bought SAF from Botafogo.

Textor does business with Jamie Selter, CEO of Authentic Brands Group, owner of the American brand.

Interestingly, Selter is an indirect shareholder of Botafogo. Indeed, the Canadian businessman is Textor’s partner at Eagle Football Holdings, a holding company that owns 90% of SAF do Alvinegro. The company also holds a minority stake in Crystal Palace (ING), as well as 80% of Molenbeek (BEL) and part of Lyon (FRA).

Through Authentic Brands Group (ABG), Jamie S is expected to launch the new shirts for the second half of this year.

THE THING! discovered that Textor’s plan with his partner and friend is to further expand Reebok’s presence in Brazilian football, and not just be limited to the Rio de Janeiro team. Teams other than São Paulo received surveys last week. This could harm negotiations with Tricolor.

Having an exclusive player on the national stage was a desired point by the São Paulo executives since there was a decision not to renew with Adidas, which has not yet been made public by the top hats. Indeed, there are tricolor complaints that non-exclusivity is causing difficulties. Like those who were confronted with the German multinational concerning the difference in amounts paid and salaries granted in São Paulo and FlamengoFor example.

The L! revealed that the management of Julio Casares even demanded that New Balance break with the Bragantino for the agreement to be ratified. But given the lack of better options (and the numbers considered very interesting) so far, the condition ended up being temporarily dropped.

CRISIS WITH ADIDAS

São Paulo raises the possibility mentioned by the board of directors of unilaterally terminating once and for all the contract with Adidas, its current supplier of sporting goods, before the end of the obligation, at the end of the year.

GOOD MORNING! found that the new dispute between the parties is due to complaints from traders and fans to find the new 2023 uniforms launched by the German multinational in sizes considered special.

A premature termination could prevent Adidas from enforcing a clause in its agreement with São Paulo which provides priority to match or cover any offer that comes to the club to replace him. But the trend is that the German company seems reluctant to maintain the partnership.

At the report, sources in the advertising community and in the sports equipment trade revealed that the breakup seems to be on its way to the clothing manufacturer. There are discussions at the supplier about the redistribution of parts launched this year. And who are just waiting for the signature of the project to decide what to do.

It is this part of the process that concerns Tricolor. There was already the expectation of the current management since taking over to break away from Adidas. It just wasn’t done because of the high fines. It is expected that an agreement will be reached with the Germans so that the breakup will be amicable.

And what would São Paulo’s uniforms look like? The agreement with New Balance, Reebok or Castore would be announced immediately after the split with Adidas. And one of the alternatives studied within the club is the use of its own brand when producing the new uniforms. In this case, it would serve to enhance the SAO brand, created by Casares as marketing director in the 2000s and recently reactivated, with the launch of an official store in Morumbi.

THE PARTIES LIVE IN A LOVE AND HATE RELATIONSHIP

São Paulo and Adidas, who started the partnership in 2018, live behind the scenes extremely tumultuous relations. First of all, Tricolor complains about the difference in the amounts paid and the treatments granted to it at Flamengo. There are complaints that even Atlético-MG and International would be better served by the brand.

Additionally, recent episodes have exposed what fans and managers alike call neglect. There are numerous complaints about the way the bond was arranged by the management of Carlos Augusto Barros e Silva, Leco, Casares’ predecessor. And also because only Flamengo is considered a “world brand”.

In December last year, the chapter of disagreements between the parties gained another chapter, with club uniforms used in pre-season still displaying the Roku branding, maker of online media players, whose deal expired there. three months ago and has not been renewed.

The promise was that the situation should change at the end of January, when, finally, the club would launch part of its new collection in advance. So far, however, there has been no supply of new shirts.

In September last year, the club found itself hostage to the sports brand and called it “negligence” the fact that São Paulo’s third shirt, which alludes to the tracksuit worn by the world champion team of 1992, disappeared from stores after the first sale. batch.

Released in August, the game sold out in a weekend. And the replacement of the batch of 3,000 units, promised by Tricolor to fans at the time within 15 days, took almost two months. After raising almost BRL 1 million in the kit’s launch weekend, São Paulo’s marketing predictions are that the club failed to raise an additional BRL 6 million with the piece due to lists of waiting for customers established by stores. .

At the start of 2022, the cancellation was studied by the tricolor legal department, but the amounts of the fines prevented the schedule from moving forward. The contract between the parties runs until the end of next year. The disagreement is such that coach Rogério Ceni got into the “crossfire” by wearing clothes from Under Armour, a former supplier to São Paulo, during the match against Youthin April of that year, for the Copa do Brasil.

The latest spark came in March, when fans, partners and advisers publicly complained that Adidas had ignored São Paulo in a campaign that launched uniforms inspired by pieces designed in the 1990s. in which the models wear the jersey of the main clubs and selections served by the German multinational. And it was also not considered with a shirt in the collection.

Among the European selections and teams, only three South Americans feature in the campaign: Flamengo and the Argentinian duo River Plate and Boca Juniors. The only three-time world champion in Brazilian football, São Paulo has been completely ignored.