For me to consider it a big upgrade in terms of prestige, we would need to become one of these:
- Nike Elite team, joining Chelsea, Spurs, Barcelona, Liverpool, PSG, Inter Milan, Athletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, and Galatasaray (Taken from Footy Headlines)
- Adidas Elite team, joining Arsenal, Bayern, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and now Newcastle (Taken from Footy Headlines)
- Puma top team, joining Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Olympique Marseille, and Palmeiras (Taken from Puma’s official site)
They’re the groups from those 3 mega brands that the companies really put their new tech and high-end resources into (whether or not that produces good kits or designs is up for debate). The marketable, elite clubs are where all the money is, and joining that group is how we take the next step in appealing to the exploding US and Asian markets. Do we have the brand to join those clubs? Who knows.
I’m excited we’re ditching Castore no matter what, but imo for the next Kit deal to be considered a large step forward we need to join one of these groups. Being the big club of a smaller company (like we were with Castore) doesn’t have the impact we’d like.