Liverpool will still be wearing New Balance when they raise the trophy Also found the economic agreement with Nike

*** UPDATE 1/6 ***

If the coronavirus had not upset the plans of the sports world, by this time Liverpool would have already announced its nineteenth Premier League in its history and just today would have said goodbye to New Balance and welcome to Nike. The remote hypothesis of the double seasonal sponsor was discarded months ago, with the clearance arrived from the Beaverton company to let the Reds still wear NB for the rest of the 2019-20 season. In the last hours, meanwhile, the Premier League CEO Richard Masters has revealed that the league plans to organize a ceremony to celebrate the national champions, even if the stadiums will remain empty.

Honoring champions is a tradition that will not break the coronavirus, but it will surely be different. Different, however, will not be the shirt with which Jordan Anderson will raise the cup of the English championship. The figures agreed between Liverpool and Nike for the postponement of the £ 70 million contract start date have not been disclosed. Although the event of the ceremony is an important marketing moment par excellence, Nike preferred to let the entire mandate to New Balance conclude before plunging into the 2020-21 season.

 

*** UPDATE 31/3 ***
The sensational assumptions for a double technical sponsor of Liverpool - and other European teams - were more than well founded. There is an irrefutable date on the new contract between the Reds and the Oregon brand. Although now New Balance and Liverpool are at loggerheads (especially after losing the lawsuit), Nike has preferred not to take over and let the 2019-2020 season end with the "NB" logo on the English team's game kits. The news comes from The Athletic, who had the opportunity to deal with a "senior" Nike source and who said: "Legally, we were in a position to enforce the contract, as the date of June 1st is clearly indicated, but it was decided that it would not be right to rush and take over. Things worked out very cordially. This was always the plan that Liverpool had in mind: to start wearing Nike with the start of the 2020-21 season. It is right to leave the rest of this season in New Balance. We are very focused on the next season."

The virus is causing a series of chain reactions that could leave long-term aftermath and complications. On a sports-football level, one of the most complex situations is how to be able to conclude the suspended championships, leaving the companies the time necessary to register for the following year within the deadline, which will most likely be extended until 30 of June. To get to this date at the end of the championship, there will still be a need for a "reduced" formula, at least to be able to decree the participants in the cups and relegations and, to remedy the problem, the league has already proposed valid solutions including the introduction of the playoffs and the proposal to play 2 games a week from the beginning of May, provided that the championships can start again.

Another of the chained problems that would arise is how the eventual postponement of the championships could affect the sponsorship contracts, technical and otherwise, which should end this year: every year, for the last 2-3 championship days, some brands, especially those who can make long-term planning due to the ongoing contract, already provide their teams with the uniforms of the following season, in order to officially anticipate the trends to their fans and thus create hype.

We tried to imagine what this year's and next year's jerseys would look like if all these possibilities occurred.