February 21 – After just four months Brazilian top-tier side Santos have renegotiated their kit deal with Umbro, saying that the original agreement was unfair and having threatened to cancel the partnership.
The dispute arose after new club president José Carlos Peres, who took position in December 2017 after the original deal was agreed in October 2017, said that the contract was unacceptable. The new deal will run through to 2020.
Under the original contract Umbro would have paid R$7.5 million ($2.3 million) per year. Santos complained that this was too far below market price and pointed to Brasileiro Série A side Grêmio’s R$17 million (US$5.2 million) annual deal as evidence. Gremio are also with Umbro.
Full details of the new deal have not been released but reports are that Umbro have increased the royalty payments by about 50%.
Santos is located in the state of Sao Paulo and is one of Brazil’s most modern cities, even though the football club’s stadium has a capacity of just over 16,000.
The club has won nine national championships and is one of the most widely supported across Brazil, but also internationally, which presents an interesting opportunity for Umbro in terms of distribution. Santos is perhaps most famous internationally for being the home club of Pele and as a result is arguably the most-recognised club brand outside the country.
More recently the club produced Paris St Germain forward Neymar who, if not the best player in the world, is certainly the most expensive.
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