Chelsea have reasserted their ambitions for club revenue to reach £1billion, with the Blues seeing a huge opportunity to improve across a number of areas. Club and Nike officials joined the Fans' Forum for their latest meeting to discuss merchandising and marketing.
The Fans' Forum is a body consisting of elected fans and senior members of the club. On this occasion, Nike club business director Dave Atkinson, club director Daniel Finkelstein and club president of business Tom Glick were just a few of those present in addition to representatives from a number of groups.
The Blues revealed intentions to increase the number of partnerships they hold, and there is an intention to bring greater revenues to ensure more can be invested into the team. It is not simply or the hope of closing the gap on rivals, but to surpass their competitors in this area.
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Reaching the £1billion figure has long been acknowledged as a target, with co-ower Jose E. Feliciano believing Chelsea have a very good opportunity to do so via hidden assets. The fan forum focused on more traditional routes however.
Minutes from the meeting read: "Domestic and international TV revenue will grow and we will be proactive regarding that within the Premier League and European competitions, as well as via our own activities. There is a huge opportunity as we currently have fewer partners bringing in less overall revenue than some clubs and we are looking for a more global reach. We are in discussions looking at various sectors and want more deals with partners but it has to be the perfect partner in each area so fans can clearly be informed as to the benefits for them directly, either digitally or in person.
"This will be a big part of the criteria by which we judge partnerships. Our own media channels will be a sizable part of publicising each partner message and we are developing new content for our fans. It was raised that we have 13 partners, Manchester United has 25 and Spurs has 16. The Club said there is more focus on us now than even a few years ago and the more revenue we receive, the more we can invest in our team and activities. We want to move ahead of our competitors on this."
The club also revealed that this season's home and away kits are set to see their strongest sales under the Nike partnership while the third kits has proved less popular. Furthermore, offerings for 2023/24 and 2024/25 have already been signed off by the club but this process is being reviewed under the new ownership with the possibility of focus groups.
The shirts for 2025/26 will be designed in the coming months by designers who were previously based in Portland now based in London enabling them to gain a greater understanding of the culture around the club.
Minutes read: "It was raised that it would be good to consult supporters at the design stage. The Club explained that not only is next season signed off but so is 2024-25. With the change of ownership, we are reviewing the process and are likely to have focus groups help with the process. The representative added that explaining the designs to fans, such as the lion on the collar or the West Stand on the shirt for what was meant to commemorate our last season before a rebuild, greatly helps.
"Nike agreed and said there are many aspects included in designs and we will narrate the story about shirts in more detail from next season. We are designing 2025-26 shirts in the coming months. It’s always very subjective as to the popularity of each shirt. It added that the designers do a great job but adding the focus groups and consultation with this group will help.
They added: From the start with Nike we’ve made clear we want the same blue for continuity. We have to try and anticipate what will sell in three years’ time. We have had red in some of our kits historically and yellow doesn’t sell as well as black shirts generally. The tangerine and graphite shirt from the 90s is more popular than it was originally. The Camo shirt is popular but it’s all subjective. Even the Commodore shirt from the 1990s sells well but some newer fans question why we have red in our kit. The Club and Nike will work on developing stories to accompany designs.
"Nike added that it used to carry out the shirt launch but now the Club is doing that in partnership which gives the club more opportunity to input in the launch."
There are further plans to increase the size of the club museum to include a hall of fame and to produce more exhibits on display. In addition to recognising club legends through a hall of fame, the club hope to include renowned players more frequently with a legends match planned for September. The intention would be to add two games per year.
Minutes read: "We have 12 ambassadors and a large roster of former players who we want to involve more. There is an intention for a legends match to take place in September due to timetabling problems this season. We would generally like two matches per year, one home and one away, with the former played at Stamford Bridge. The March game is being rescheduled partly because of the women’s Champions League match here. We would like to recognise our ex-players through a hall of fame programme."
You can read the full details of the minutes from Chelsea Supporters' Trust here.
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