The Athletic recently wrote an article analyzing Liverpool and the business empire it has built. The article wrote that Liverpool's interactions on all social media platforms reached an astonishing 1.7 billion times last season, exceeding the NF...
The Athletic recently wrote an article analyzing Liverpool and the business empire it has built. The article wrote that Liverpool's interactions on all social media platforms reached an astonishing 1.7 billion times last season, exceeding the NFL and NBA top ten teams combined. On the day Slott led the team to win the Premier League championship alone, the number of interactions reached 60 million times.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the rapid growth of Liverpool's business operations in recent years. Liverpool's business income has almost tripled in the past 10 years.
Liverpool's financial report for fiscal 2023-24 showed that business revenue (£308 million) exceeded half of total revenue (£614 million) for the first time and surpassed its main rival Manchester United (£303 million) for the first time in the Premier League era.
"We have seen significant growth in revenue, but there is still a lot of room for growth," Liverpool Chief Commercial Officer Ben Latty told The Athletic. "Liverpool has huge potential for commercial mining, and in terms of business, Liverpool has just begun. We have established the right talent pool and organizational structure and can now make a big move to drive the process."
Latty and his team are all over the world, but are not particularly concerned about whether business revenue exceeds Manchester United or Manchester City (£344 million), but focus on maximizing revenue through controllable channels, stressing that he "don't even know Manchester City's business data."
"Controllable income, i.e. game day income and commercial marketing income are my focus, but media income depends largely on performance on the court. We must become a sustainable football club."
Latty was promoted to Liverpool's chief business officer in 2024. The club has business partners around the world, and its employees are based in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Boston, New York and London, China. Liverpool has reached a multi-million-pound deal with well-known brands such as Google Pixel, Peloton, UPS and Orion Innovation.
The Asian market remains crucial to Liverpool, and according to data released by Liverpool, they have nearly 250 million fans in the region, making it the region with the largest retail revenue of jerseys.
Liverpool's 20 independent retail stores worldwide are located in Asia, the latest one opened in Hong Kong, China last week. In addition, they have 48 official fan clubs in Asia. This is very attractive to official partners such as Standard Chartered Bank, training equipment sponsor, AXA, and Japan Airlines and Kodansha.
Liverpool's currently ongoing preseason tour, including friendly matches in Hong Kong and Japan, not only helps the team prepare for the game, but also has huge commercial value and brings rich revenue.
"When we consider tour locations, we always evaluate the local market and consider different options, and we discuss all possible options with Sports Director Richard Hughes, his assistant David Woodfinn, medical director John Ball, etc. "
"While season preparation is the most important, the football operations team also understands the commercial value of these tours. For us, this is to give fans who cannot go to Anfield a chance to get closer to the club."
During Rodgers' coaching, Liverpool went to Australia twice to compete in preseason games. Liverpool's only time to visit Australia since 2015 was to play a friendly match after the end of the 2017 season, so have you considered visiting Australia this summer?
Latti said: "We never ruled out Australia's option, but for this tour we plan to play only those two games and then return to Anfield."
"In addition to the Athletic Bilbao, we originally wanted to schedule another game at Anfield, but due to the team's outstanding record last season, we will compete in the Community Shield on August 10 and then against Bournemouth in the first round of the Premier League on August 15, which means that the time to be able to schedule preseason games is greatly shortened."
In the past, Liverpool usually alternated between the United States and Asia. So what about 2026?
"We usually start thinking about options a year ago, which includes talking with promoters or considering organizing on their own. If you organize yourself, you need to take risks, such as whether fans can fill the stadium and whether the business returns are safe enough."
Liverpool's partnership with sponsors Standard Chartered Bank and AXA, as well as official collaborations with Japan Airlines and Kodansha, all reflect the importance of the Asian market. The current contract with Standard Chartered Bank and armband sponsor Expedia will continue until 2027, and renewal negotiations are about to begin.
"In terms of contract renewal, we will start discussing and communicating with our sponsors," Latie said.
In this tour, Liverpool still wore the Nike jersey from last season, because the new contract with Adidas will not take effect until August 1, because the five-year contract with Nike was extended to July this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2019-20 season, which has led to the extension of the effective date of the contract with Adidas.
Liverpool's match against Yokohama Mariners was the last time the team wore Nike gear. Adidas will hold a major launch event on Friday, and Anfield's flagship jersey store will also reopen after a massive renovation this summer. "In retrospect, Nike has been a very good partner. They promised to provide us with the best quality guarantee until the end, and they did. They met everything we need in terms of providing the gear and jerseys needed for this tour."
"You usually launch new jerseys in May and may wear new jerseys in the last game of the season, depending on the importance of the game. We weren't able to do that, but August 1 will be a big day for us.". ”
This means that Liverpool will launch three new jerseys in the next few days.
Adidas' sponsorship amount is definitely higher than Nike, the specific number is confidential, part of the amount is linked to jersey sales and team record, but the annual sponsorship fee will be much higher than the previously rumored £60 million.
Under the terms of the contract, Liverpool will continue to have the freedom to retail jerseys.
"In jersey sponsorship, there are many variables, and it is difficult to compare Liverpool's jersey sponsorship with other teams. We develop the way we sell goods completely differently than most other clubs, we operate completely independently, and some clubs are willing to outsource them. ”
"For us, it is very important to ensure that jersey products are delivered to fans around the world through a formal distribution network. ”
"We have continuously set jersey sales records in our cooperation with Nike, which is a fierce competition and a variety of factors have led us to choose Adidas. They do a great job in this and we can do our own products as long as it doesn’t affect their business, which is part of the reason we keep getting successful in business. ”
"We are one of the largest clubs in the world and we want to show that both on and off the court. ”
