Adidas has renewed their sponsorship deal with MLS 4 years before the current deal actually expired. Back in 2005 when the league as a whole was struggling, MLS stepped up with a 10 year, $150 million contract. Six years into that deal, MLS has a new 8 year deal with the sports apparel manufacturer that is said to be worth upwards of $200 million. The extension of the current deal is fantastic news for the league as it's apparent at least to Adidas that the league is viable enough to them for them to step up and extend their current partnership 4 years before the current deal expired. Adidas obviously sees enough interest and growth in the league that they wanted to tie up the deal before it got close to expiring.
I know there are a lot of people that are a bit disappointed in this because they wanted the deal to expire and let individual teams get their own jersey contracts the way it was done before the original Adidas deal. But in the end this is the best for not just a smaller team like KC that would struggle to get a good jersey deal on it's own. It also is a good deal for teams like Seattle and LA as well because they get probably what they would make on their own. And with the entire league doing it, it helps the viability of the entire league. I think this is a great deal all around for MLS.
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