Confirmed: New Balance To Remain Liverpool Kit Maker Until July 31 - Nike Kits To Be Released On August 1 2020?
Update: Liverpool just confirmed that New Balance will continue as the club's official kit supplier until July 31, 2020. The Nike Liverpool 2020-2021 kits are set for a launch on August 1 2020.
It has been mutually agreed with New Balance, the club and incoming kit supplier Nike that the deal, which was due to come to an end on May 31, 2020, will be extended due to the Premier League being suspended as a result of COVID-19.
Nike’s term as official kit supplier to the club, outfitting the men’s, women’s and Academy squads, as well as coaching staff and Liverpool FC Foundation, is due to commence on August 1, 2020.
#LFC update on kit supplier.
— Liverpool FC (at ?) (@LFC) June 1, 2020
Update: The Premier League is set to restart on 17 June. Now Daily Mail have possibly revealed new information about the fact that Nike will not force their deal with Liverpool FC to begin on June 1 - "in return for significant compensation", according to Daily Mail.
"New sponsors Nike were due to begin their £70million-a-year Liverpool deal on June 1. Following talks involving all three parties, however, the American giant have agreed to put back the activation date until the start of the 2020-21 season — in return for significant compensation."
March 31 2020: Confirmed by Nike: Liverpool Will Finish Season in New Balance Kits
Nike has confirmed that they will let Liverpool complete the season in New Balance kits despite their deal with the club officially commencing on June 1.
With the current coronavirus-related delays, it's a given that the season will extend beyond the start of June and it was therefore speculated that Liverpool could lift the trophy and finish the campaign wearing next season's Nike kits.
“Legally, it could have been enforced as the contract clearly states the date of June 1,” a senior Nike source explained to SoccerBible. “But it was decided that it just wouldn’t have been right to storm in and take over. Things have been very cordial.
“It was always the plan that Liverpool would start wearing Nike in pre-season ahead of the 2020-21 season and that remains the case. It’s only right that they see out the rest of this season in New Balance. We’re very much focused on next season.”
Following the early confusion, this was seen the expected most logical solution recently to the current situation and we'll likely see the same logic applied to other kit and sponsorship deals that are due to end after the 2019-20 season, such as Chelsea's main sponsorship deal with Yokohama Tires or Celtic's New Balance kit deal.
Despite there being consensus among the clubs about finishing the season it's very much up in the air when exactly that could take place. Talks are ongoing behind the scenes and decisions are being made to ensure that the campaign can extend beyond its regular June 30 finishing date - especially in regards to player contracts.
It might be worth to take a look at China, where the official data says the situation is mostly under control. Despite barely any new cases of coronavirus being registered, there's still no concrete return data for the Chinese Super League and new travel restrictions have put late April plans to rest.
