Chapter 339 Reversed Position

Hannett could sense Tobias's calmness and composure. How could he not be familiar with that? However, the business world is like a battlefield. Once you miss an opportunity, the switch between advantage and disadvantage is just a matter of a blink of an eye.

Adidas missed Gawain at the beginning, but when they met again, the supply and demand relationship was reversed. Hannett thought of his last conversation with Tobias and couldn't help laughing and looking helpless.

"You'll regret this."

Tobias' words were still clearly circling in his mind, but Hannett confidently ignored Tobias's emotional venting, just like watching a child throwing a tantrum, with unshakable confidence deep in his heart.

Now what? However, that's business.

Hannett quickly gathered his thoughts and got straight to the point, "John, Adidas hopes to sign Gao Wen as our exclusive player. We are willing to sponsor Gao Wen $20 per year as training and competition funds, and of course, all jerseys and shoes."

Two hundred thousand dollars a year? A month ago, this was Tobias' bottom line. He even considered accepting Nike's proposal of eighty thousand dollars a year, but ultimately rejected it.

But now things are completely different, and Tobias is definitely looking forward to more than just $200,000 a year.

"David, you know this number can't convince me." Tobias said bluntly without beating around the bush.

Hannett was also a little embarrassed because he didn't have the final say on the numbers; he was just a messenger.

"John, Gawain only played one professional match. You should know that when Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final, the contract Nike offered her was only one million dollars a year."

Bouchard, the most sought-after tennis beauty this year, reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the French Open, and even made it to the finals at Wimbledon. Her strong performance and dazzling looks made her an instant hit. Nike believed that she might have the potential to succeed Sharapova, so they snatched the young player, who was just 20 years old, from Adidas with a big investment.

For a while, Bouchard was a hot topic in the industry.

But what about Gawain?

For Adidas and Nike, the Challenge Tournament is not really considered a professional tour, so they believe that Gao Wen just played a regular professional game. Tobias is now asking for a sky-high price and asking for it on the spot, which seems to be a bit too much of an overestimation of himself.

Tobias knew, of course he knew, but the market value of tennis was far more complicated, with gender and nationality being factors that needed to be considered.

What makes Gao Wen special is the entire Chinese market background, and his every move is creating history, which is something that Bouchard cannot compare to.

"David, if you are going to compete with Nike, then you should know the relationship between me and Nike, right? Your chances of winning are obviously not high."

Dimitrov now holds an exclusive sponsorship contract with Nike.

Moreover, as Gao Wen currently has no sponsorship, his jersey is from the school team, but his shoes are professional tennis shoes from Nike – which he bought himself.

It can be seen from all aspects that Nike took the initiative. If Adidas wants to make up for the loss of Bouchard, they must be more proactive. Tobias also knew this clearly, so he found Adidas in the first place, and that is why he is still as stable as a rock today.

Hannett knew all of this. They were all veterans in the industry. They had no intention of reaching an agreement through this phone call. At most, they were just testing their intentions.

But it is conceivable that Tobias should also maintain close contact with Nike and is now waiting for a good price, and other competitors are also eyeing him.

Especially the French brand Crocodile, which has been the official sponsor of the French Open for forty years, but has never kept up with the trend of the new era and has never signed an exclusive spokesperson. It is now adjusting its market strategy and its momentum is aggressive.

They need to speed up. Although it is not a race against time, it is also a story every day. If - just hypothetically, if Gao Wen continues to win in the second round, then Tobias will be more confident.

Hannett thought about it and tried to persuade him again, "John, you know this is a reasonable number. If you agree now, Gao Wen can wear our jersey in the second round of the game the day after tomorrow."

This time, it was Tobias who was walking around with ease and leisure. "David, the UCLA uniform has become one of Gao Wen's symbols. I think it's great."

The subtext is that Gawain doesn't need to rush.

The call, after all, could not continue.

But has commercial cooperation in competitive sports always been so complicated and difficult?

The answer is yes.

Take Halep's experience as an example.

In 2013, Halep signed a contract with Adidas and wore Adidas jerseys for the next four years. Her performance also underwent a comprehensive transformation. She reached the French Open finals twice, won the highest level crown championship many times, and officially ascended to the world's No. 1 throne in October 2017.

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Logically speaking, Adidas must sponsor the new world No. 1 well, further expand cooperation and enhance influence; however, at the beginning of the new season in 2018, Halep wore a jersey without any labels. It was the jersey she designed herself and then customized through Taobao.

Halep and Adidas' parting ways was officially revealed.

Halep kept silent about this, but said very gracefully, "It's a little sad for me to terminate the contract, but I will look forward to the future."

Later, Forbes magazine revealed the inside story.

After becoming the world's number one, Halep's team believed that the price of her sponsorship contract should be increased. As the contract between the two parties had expired and needed to be renewed, Halep's agent made a request to increase the price from the previous US$1.2 million a year to US$2.4 million a year, a full doubling.

However, after discussion, Adidas executives did not agree to the price, so both parties gave up on renewing the contract.

Halep's team then approached other sports brands, but unfortunately no agreement was reached. As the 2018 new season was about to begin, Halep's team returned to Adidas and said they could accept Adidas' previous renewal offer. However, Adidas had already completed the allocation of sponsorship budget for players in the new year and could no longer meet the previous renewal offer.

As a result of a series of twists and turns, Halep ended up without any sponsorship.

Of course, as the world's number one, Halep's embarrassing situation of having no sponsorship soon ended. Not long after, Nike officially signed a contract with Halep, and the annual sponsorship contract fee was two million US dollars.

From Halep's $2 million to Bouchard's $1 million, small details show that sponsorship of competitive sports is not that simple, and the game between Tobias and sports brands has just begun.

(End of this chapter)