Sports
Barca’s new Nike deal explained: Is it really worth €1.7billion? And is it bigger than Real Madrid’s?
Barcelona announced last weekend a new multi-year partnership with kit supplier Nike, extending and updating a deal which had been set to end in 2028.
In recent months Barca president Joan Laporta has regularly boasted that he would secure a deal which would be “the biggest in all of world football”, and the extended contract could now be worth €1.7billion (£1.4bn;$1.8bn) over the next 14 seasons to 2038, bringing a major boost to the club’s troubled and complex financial situation.
Confirmation of the new arrangement ends a year-long saga which hurt relations between the Catalan club and the American sportswear giant. Yet it remains to be seen whether the deal will bring immediate relief to the team’s issues with La Liga’s salary limits — including most pressingly whether last summer’s signings Dani Olmo and Pau Victor can be registered to play for the team over the second half of this season.
The Athletic spoke to figures inside and outside Camp Nou, all of whom wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, about whether this is a good deal for Barcelona.
What did Barcelona say?
Announcing the contract on Saturday, Barca said in a statement: “This new partnership consolidates Nike as a main partner of the club and official technical partner across all professional and amateur teams, bringing a unique model that strengthens the brand association and fuels the global retail and licensing business growth.”
What are the financial details?
Barca officially told The Athletic that the details of the deal were confidential, but club sources stated a total figure of €1.7bn over the next 14 years.
The new contract will have two phases. The first is from 2024 to 2028, the latter year being when the previous agreement was to expire. Club sources say that for each of the next four years, the income will now be around €108million (£90m;$115m), close to doubling what the club had been earning in recent seasons.
From 2028, that figure will increase to around €120m each campaign over the following decade, according to the club sources.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
These sources said that Barcelona would also receive a ‘signing bonus’ of €158m which will be divided over the 14 years of the deal, including the current season’s accounts.
Barca consider it to be a big victory for Barca following tough negotiations, guaranteeing that most of the promised annual income will be received, regardless of the team’s performances on the pitch.
When previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board signed the previous deal in 2016, a headline figure of €105m a year was trumpeted. However, under that deal, when the team were not as successful as hoped, for instance dropping out of the Champions League early, the club actually received only €50-60m from Nike.
What are Nike saying?
Nike and Barca have worked together closely since their first deal was signed in 1998. When asked by The Athletic to comment on the new deal extension, Nike said it was delighted to continue this deep and meaningful relationship.
A Nike spokesperson said: “We are excited to progress our work together at all levels, from grassroots football initiatives that inspire and empower young players, to elevating FC Barcelona as a global icon of style and culture. Together, we are particularly passionate about advancing the growth of the women’s game, and our partnership with FC Barcelona’s women’s team is a testament to our shared dedication to equality and inclusivity in sport.”
Nike said they could not confirm details of the financial or business sides of the agreement.
What’s the optimistic view?
The €1.7bn headline figure is huge, even by the standards of multi-million kit deals at the elite level in club football. It would be a huge improvement on Barca’s previous earnings from Nike, a significant boost in revenues which would help improve the club’s financial situation over the coming years.
Importantly for many around Camp Nou, with the signing bonus included it would also mean that Barca have achieved Laporta’s often-stated ambition to top Real Madrid’s €120m-a-year agreement with Adidas, currently accepted as the most lucrative in world football.
This would back the current board’s case that they are working successfully to fix the financial problems they inherited from their predecessors.
Barca need cash to be able to play Dani Olmo in the second half of the season (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
What’s the reality of the situation?
It is not typical in football for a club to renegotiate a kit deal with four years still to run. But the agreement with Nike was identified by Barca’s board as a potential way to increase their revenues by ‘levering’ more money into their annual accounts.
Nike were only going to agree to a new deal if it suited them, and there had been anger within the U.S. multinational at how they had been treated through the whole negotiation process, including the Catalan club trying (unsuccessfully) to find a legal way to exit their previous agreement.
Laporta and his closest executives took charge of the negotiations which finally led to the weekend’s announcement. Full details of the agreement were not even shared with the board before last Friday’s vote to accept.
Some industry sources consulted by The Athletic were sceptical about the figures being claimed, with doubt from some in the Spanish capital about whether Barca’s deal really was going to be bigger than Madrid’s.
There were also concerns voiced about the effect of the new arrangement on the Catalan club’s Barca Licensing and Merchandising (BLM) arm, with the statement announcing the deal appearing to suggest a deeper role for Nike in this area of Barca’s business.
Since its launch by Bartomeu in 2018, BLM has been a big success. The €179m that Barca earned from kit and merchandising revenues was the most of any European club according to UEFA.
There are concerns that Nike playing a greater role in the many ‘casual’ ranges of clothing and other merchandise sold in official club shops will mean less of the profits end up in its coffers. Club sources have denied that this will be the case.
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What’s the latest on Barca’s salary limit?
As so often in recent years, Barca had to work hard this summer to be able to register all their current squad members with La Liga, including Spain international playmaker Olmo, a €60m arrival from RB Leipzig, and young striker Victor, a €2.7m signing from Girona.
Both were only registered at the last minute, using La Liga’s financial rule 77, which allows for the temporary replacement of injured players (in this case Andreas Christensen). That meant they were only registered with La Liga until December 31. For either or both to feature after the winter break, the club must find more money from somewhere.
Victor is another player experiencing uncertainty at Barcelona (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
During a press conference in early September, Laporta said that Barca were “€60million away” from returning to a situation where La Liga would let them sign and register players as normal.
A few weeks later it emerged that Barca’s auditors had required a write-down in its 2023-24 accounts of the value of the club’s troubled ‘Barca Vision’ subsidiary, which holds its current and future media rights and activities.
This meant that Barca now needed to raise an estimated €120m to get back within its allowed salary limit for the current campaign.
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How could the new Nike deal affect the situation?
When Laporta has been asked about the Barca Vision problem, he would often mention the bumper benefits of a new kit deal as at least part of the solution.
One hope was that a ‘bonus’ of €100m-plus could fill most or all of the immediate holes in the club’s accounts caused by the failure of the Barca Studios lever. The agreed deal now divides this bonus over its 14-year term — meaning only an estimated €9m extra in 2024-25 (plus the extra €40m in normal revenues over the course of the season).
Club sources have told The Athletic that the new Nike deal helps but does not resolve the Barca Vision issue. So the search continues for more investors in that project. There is confidence at the highest level at Camp Nou that this will be successful, and player sales will not be required in the winter transfer window. However, as so often under the current regime, it looks likely to go right down the wire.
And over the longer term?
The general impression is that this new Nike deal fits well with Laporta’s policies during his second presidency. The club is gaining upfront money which it can use to fix holes in the accounts and continue to spend on the squad.
A longer-term issue with the new Nike contract flagged in multiple conversations with industry sources is that Barca are now locked into this deal for another 14 years. Given the inflation in the market, €127m a year may not look so good by 2034. “This deal could tie the hands and feet of the next president,” an ex-Blaugrana board member told The Athletic.
However, there is also an understanding that Barca are where they are, and the numbers coming from the club are impressive and necessary. “Financially this new Nike deal is a tremendous boost of oxygen,” said one influential figure in the club’s ‘entorno’ who has not always backed Laporta’s lever policies.
(Additional reporting: Pol Ballús)
(Top photo: Alvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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