Chapter 518: Courageous Decision

In the previous second, Jenkins was discussing the design of jerseys for Gawain, giving the Grand Slam champion, who was born in 1995, a heavy blow.

The next second, Jenkins opened his briefcase, took out a brand new dark blue jersey that was fully packaged, and handed it over.

The samples are already out!

Even someone as calm as Gao Wen, who had prepared himself mentally, had to admit that Jenkins had indeed succeeded in creating a shock.

Blue, a deep and tranquil azure blue, is even clearer and softer than the Bruins' uniform. The classic Nike logo is still on the left chest. At the same time, a coin-sized black wolf king's head can be seen on the cuff of the left short-sleeved shirt. The lifelike design makes it seem as if you can see strands of hair fluttering in the wind.

Looking more closely, the strokes and lines of the entire wolf king's head vaguely outline the shape of a letter "G", which should be inspired by the first letter of Gawain's surname.

In addition, there is a golden star just above the wolf's head, like a crown.

"What is this?" Gawain pointed at the stars and asked curiously.

Jenkins gave a confident smile and answered quickly.

"U.S. Open champion."

"For the four Grand Slams, we are going to design different shapes of logos to indicate the number of championships; of course, different Grand Slams will match different jersey designs, and other competitions will design different jerseys according to different stages of the season, tailored for you."

"If you are interested, you can also add your own inspiration to help us complete the design."

Such treatment!

Looking at the entire tour, Nike sponsors innumerable players, at least five hundred if not eight hundred. Adidas is no exception. As the world's top sponsor, they redesign and update the jersey styles every quarter and then provide them to sponsored players for selection.

However, the entire catalog of new jerseys is exactly the same, so it is common to see two players wearing exactly the same jersey facing each other across the net - if they are friends, they may stagger the colors, but there is nothing they can do about the styles.

It is also because of this that the Big Four, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and other players, in different seasons and different Grand Slams, they all wear unique jerseys to play in the game, which in itself has become a symbol.

Now, Gao Wen can also enjoy such treatment.

In addition, if the "exclusive jersey" is just that, then there is nothing to envy. After all, no matter how good-looking or special it is, it is just a jersey. Even if it is the same jersey, the fans and spectators are watching the game. After all, the stadium is not a fashion runway.

The key point is that these "exclusive jerseys" are separate product lines, and Nike will put them all on sale, so fans can freely own the same ones, just like the exclusive sneakers of NBA players. This is a very profitable project and the reason why the sponsorship fees of NBA stars are so high.

Looking at the history of global professional sports, the product line agreement between Michael Jordan and Nike is undoubtedly unprecedented, as Jordan owns 3% of the dividends of the entire product line.

In other words, even though Jordan has retired and no longer has a sponsorship contract with Nike, he can still make profits through dividends from his product line.

According to a 2019 report, Jordan received dividends from the Nike brand alone of around 130 million US dollars. Many years after his retirement, he still topped the list of Nike's dividends, more than three times that of LeBron James, who ranked second.

Of course, after Jordan, Nike learned its lesson, and there were no more dividends in the subsequent exclusive sneaker contracts signed.

Tennis, much the same.

As far as the industry knows, Federer's 10-year, $120 million contract with Nike and Nadal's five-year, $50 million contract with Nike will both expire in 2018, but neither of these two sky-high contracts in professional tennis includes dividends from product lines.

Federer's personal brand "RF" developed in cooperation with Nike, and Nadal's personal product line "Bulls" developed in cooperation with Nike are the two most profitable product lines in the field of tennis. The two kings have an incredibly large fan base, and their jersey sales are among the top every year.

It is precisely because of this that Federer and Nadal were able to sign such sky-high contracts; on the other hand, it is a different situation for Serena Williams.

In 2003, Serena Williams signed a five-year contract with Nike for $8 million per year; but in 2008, when Serena Williams renewed her contract with Nike, the contract figure decreased instead of increasing, because the female tennis superstar decided to design her own brand with Nike and get a share of the profits.

His gaze returned to Gawain.

Gawain looked up at Jenkins in front of him, with a smile on his face. He didn't say much, but asked meaningfully: "Are you sure? Aren't you worried that I'll become Gaudio or Del Potro?"

Gao Wen absolutely does not mean to belittle these two players. In fact, he personally likes these two Argentines, Gaudio and Del Potro, very much.

At this time, Gao Wen mentioned the names of two people, mainly because both players were once very popular, but encountered different bottlenecks after reaching the top of the Grand Slam.

Among them, Del Potro only played in four tournaments in 2014 due to a wrist injury and missed almost the entire season.

Jenkins chuckled at Gawain's honesty and straightforwardness, but he did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Why, you have no confidence? This is nothing like the impression of Gawain."

Gao Wen laughed out loud. "No, of course I have confidence, but in a professional competition, it is obviously not something that I can decide on just based on my confidence."

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Jenkins waved his hand gently. "You have confidence, that's enough. You are responsible for the game, and John and we will worry about the rest."

Even from the understatement, one can deeply feel that Nike is well prepared.

Not only is he sincere, but he is also determined to win.

From Gawain's victory yesterday afternoon to his personal visit this morning, Nike has shown incredible decisiveness and has really shown its dominance.

Gao Wen couldn't help but wonder if this was how Nike signed Bouchard after Wimbledon.

Eeyore.

At this moment, Tobias came back and looked at the two people in the room. "It seems that you two are having a good chat without me. How is it? Is there anything you need me to follow up on?"

Jenkins stood up very tactfully, "No, nothing special, I just showed Gao Wen our blueprint, we believe Gao Wen and Nike are a perfect fit."

Changing the subject, "But, I need to deal with the call of my bladder right now, Gawain, you don't mind if I use the bathroom, do you?"

After asking for Gawain's consent, Jenkins turned and went into the bathroom, leaving the hotel room for Gawain and Tobias.

(End of this chapter)