Nike’s Umbro sell-off: are we missing something?

THERE ARE FREQUENT occasions when Frontiers' loose grasp of the machinations of the money men becomes even looser and news of Nike’s disposal of Umbro is one of those times. For those not following the history of relations between the two brands, Nike bought the long-term England football kit sponsor in 2008 for $456m, planning to muscle in on Europe’s biggest sports merchandise opportunity as a result. To cut a long story short, it didn’t work and Umbro was put up for sale earlier in 2012 but not before Nike took over its sponsorship contracts with the FA and Manchester City.

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