Premier League Preview - Adidas v Nike

Arsenal v Chelsea - Nike v Adidas

The Premier League kicks off its 22nd season in a week's time - and brand new broadcasting deal to herald another exciting chapter of the Premier League (including a new song).

The Premier League is now Britain's most well-known and lucrative export thanks to an ever growing popularity with fans - it has surpassed the big 4 professional leagues in the USA for following - and organizations want to get involved, knowing that the financial rewards are currently huge.

A testament of this? The humble shirt, shorts and socks.

Indeed, a staggering 70% of the Premier League this season will be kitted out by the duopoly of Adidas and Nike (as per list below) -

Southampton are one of 3 teams switching to Adidas for the new season

Adidas - Chelsea, Fulham, Hull City, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea City, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United

Manchester City have switched from Umbro to Nike

Nike - Arsenal, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United

Contrast that to 10 years ago when Adidas and Nike only clothed 20% of the Premier League - plus another 20% if you include Adidas subsidiary, Reebok who sponsored Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Liverpool and Nike subsidiary, Umbro who sponsored Chelsea.

Liverpool and Tottenham are probably the biggest clubs in England not affiliated with Nike or Adidas

Unless you have massive exclusive multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with a clother, i.e. Liverpool with Warrior, Tottenham with Under Armour, Adidas and Nike are the only clothing companies with enough capital to exclusively sponsor the entire Premier League if they could.

It is probably a fair reflection of the current sports/leisure clothing market - Adidas and Nike completely dominate that market with the likes of Uniqlo, Puma, Under Armour, Canterbury Clothing and Warrior trying to make a little impact.

Adidas and Nike have the world's top sportsmen as part of their portfolios, e.g. Rory McIlroy, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova, Usain Bolt, etc.

Adidas and Nike are to clothing what Apple and Microsoft are to technology. It also means that unfortunately, the days when smaller clothing brands like FILA and Lonsdale could sponsor a Premier League team are history and also leaving very little variety in terms of clothing brands in the world's most watched league.

Adidas and Nike's duopoly has also hit the English Championship - Blackburn v Nottingham Forest

Indeed, Adidas and Nike's influence is already starting to become more evident in the lower divisions, i.e. Blackburn Rovers is now sponsored by Nike and Nottingham Forest by Adidas from this season.

Moreover, even moderately sized companies like Reebok and Umbro who have had long commitments to football don't even stand a chance - indeed, Umbro's death knell was probably sounded by the England FA moving to American giants, Nike.

The likes of Rebel Sport, Karstadt Sports and Direct Sports will continue to benefit from being able to sell more Nike and Adidas replica Premier League football tops, shorts and socks.

So, if you're an Adidas or Nike fan, then good on you. But if not, get used to seeing three stripes and an American streak a lot this season.