As soon as MLS operates in the black, then they can start to dictate things. Addidas isn’t going to spend the money to develop a large product line for MLS until MLS has enough fans who will buy the shit. Addidas doesn’t want to spend the money for a bunch of merchandise that they know they won’t sell.

Sorry, but the reality is, at max for any given team, Addidas is going to sell maybe a couple of thousand units. That barely pays production costs. Even an EPL team in the relegation zone will sell ten times that and the big four who have millions of fans worldwide are no brainers. Compare apples to apples, how many different things would an equivalent team (think a mid table championship side at best) will be able to get from Addidas. None of these companies are lining up to make Crystal Palace merchandise.

Adidas investment in MLS is a long term one, and the returns they were/are looking for go far beyond the revenue they do or will see from team merchandise, those with “star” endorsements included.

The market Adidas is trying to buy into is youth sports, from AYSO to school teams. They are selling a brand through MLS, not the MLS teams themselves — yet, but you can bet they will if the team markets grow profitable enough to compete for a better sales pitch/cooler merchandise. And marketing strategies to team fans and to youth sports do conflict. For fans, merchandisers would try to give each team’s products a strong identity (whether they are good at that or not is another issue). But its the opposite if Adidas is using the League as a billboard for their product.

Its not accident, poor designing, or laziness that produces identical merchandise for each team. Since Adidas sees MLS as one walking billboard for their brand they would want the merchandise to look the same. Whether consumers like it or not, the more we see something the more it sticks in our minds. Adidas wants the parent of every micro-league player in the U.S. to have the image of the Adidas strip somewhere in their minds when they buy their 3 year old’s first practice gear, just as they want AYSO coaches and HS team captains to have it their minds when they are picking out their uniforms every year.

The youth player market in the U.S. is the largest non-brand-partisan merchandise market in the world. Even more important than that, kids grow and NEED new gear constantly. Adidas took the gamble to invest in MLS to use the league as a reasonably priced way to buy into that market. If/when the league took off, its fans would be a bonus, but we are not that bonus yet.

Sorry to chime in twice, but one of the more interesting aspects of Adidas involvement in the league is its relationship with David Beckham. Journalists often note that Anschutz, through Beckham’s business manager Simon Fuller, lobbied for several years before the deal was done to get Beckham to come to MLS after he left Real Madrid — originally setting a goal for 2009 when his RM contract was due to expire.

In fact, I believe that Adidas may have had the bigger hand in the deal. Beckham has been Adidas most profitable endorsement for most of the past decade. His impact has been unmatchable in every market to which they sent him (previously anyway, we’ll see if C Ronaldo starts getting closer), not the least in Asia, every merchandiser and team/league’s dream.

Adidas agreed a deal with MLS in 2004. But not before courting the Beckhams during their 2003 visit to the states and agreeing to invest, along with AEG, in Beckham’s idea of opening kids academies around the world — including the first one that would be located in Los Angeles and which opened timely in 2005. No coincidence to invest in a project that Beckham has always said he wanted to work on when he retired, and to place its flagship where all involved hoped their most lucrative icon would settle before then.

My field is marketing and my obsession football, but I am also also the mother of four kids who play sports, and I had to laugh when I saw the explosion of little Beckham Predators that appeared in such prominent display in sports shops here soon after his impending arrival was announced. Not a scientific observation, however the data that supports what we all casually suspect to be the micromanaging impact big sponsors have on teams, leagues, and the movement of players around the world makes the reality scary enough to put one off following sports altogether. Its all of them, of course, even though football dealings are the only ones I follow in detail. I probably be a happier fan if I didn’t.

Anyway, at least Adidas knows sports, and their $150 million has come in handy so far. Since sports is owned by the devil anyway, I just think we should get as much out of the deal as possible and ask for a larger investment — I don’t think we have much hope in changing their branding strategy that gets us the cash though. As for ESPN, they have no excuse whatsever for their coverage of football/soccer.

Wow, your opinion of Adidas (and the scarf in particular) seems to have completely changed since you posted this just 5 days earlier. Care to explain yourself? (or not… since you still haven’t over here either)

Personally, I like what Adidas has done. At least in Seattle’s case, I’ve read that the ownership group was presented with a number of choices for the jerseys and they chose the specific one used by the team now. I can only assume that each team’s management has such a say. It’s seems incredibly misinformed to blame Adidas alone.

Furthermore, I’m not a fan of each team having some extravagant “flare” in their kits. You end up with a kaleidoscope-looking mess on the field. When KC plays Chicago, I enjoy the simple red team vs. blue team product on the field. We’re trying to watch soccer, not be entertained by the shiny clothes. Go to a fashion show if you’re looking for that.