"There Is A General Decline in Sales Of Replica Kits in All Sports" - Rangers Start Looking For New Kit Supplier
Rangers chief Dave King yesterday revealed that negotiations into a new kit supplier for Rangers will begin today. Current suppliers Puma had until yesterday to notify the club on whether or not they would like to continue their agreement beyond the end of this season, with King confirming there had been contact from the manufacturer.
Six months ago, Rangers announced that the contract with Sports Direct, which gave Sports Direct's Mike Ashley control of the club's retail arm, had been canceled and replaced with a new one year agreement. Glasgow Rangers' 16-17 home kit is used in the 2017-18 campaign due to these problems with Sports Direct.
Rangers Start Looking For New Kit Supplier
Now, the club will have to decide if they wish to remain with Puma or go with another supplier, although that deal is unconnected with the club's overall retail setup, with negotiations on that unable to proceed as yet.
The arrangements we had with Sports Direct meant we couldn't go to the market until today
King explained: "The arrangements we had with Sports Direct meant we couldn't go to the market until today and within a certain timeframe. What we are doing at the moment, is putting together the appropriate plans as to what the offering is we want to take to the market at that point in time.
"So just now it is pretty much preparation, whereas the situation with the kit is a little different. Puma are obliged to give us more information – today, in fact – as to whether they want to extend that, and they have already done that. "So, from today, we will be actively entering negotiations on a kit provider whether that be Puma or someone else."
There is a decline generally in the sale of replica kits, so it's not a market we can continue to rely on for our growth.
King also expanded on other revenue streams open to the club, saying: "We haven't taken full advantage as it hasn't been open to us, and they are still not currently open. But if you look at going forward, the Sports Direct deal was so narrow and so restrictive, that the revenue streams were very restrictive.
"What we are doing now is looking at other areas, and there are commercial opportunities that we haven't exploited which we are looking at just now, and we think can be very significant going forward. A lot of that is around social media and different products other than the replica kits. We are finding the trend globally, not just in football but in basketball, baseball etc. that there is a decline generally in the sale of replica kits, so it's not a market we can continue to rely on for our growth."
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