By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
South Korea is the latest sparring ground between Nike and Adidas as the two sportswear giants compete for the rights to supply the national football team's uniforms.
However, an interesting twist was added to the battle over uniforms Monday, when the Korea Football Association (KFA)'s labor union accused the football body for its alleged favoritism toward current sponsor Nike.
``There are suspicions that KFA executives are leaning toward a certain company, instead of keeping the competition clean and fair,'' union leader Kim Jung-hoon said.
Kim went on to call the KFA's current deal with Nike a ``slave contract'' and threatened resistance should the bidding be managed ``unfairly.''
KFA maintains that a bidding war doesn't even exist at this point. Nike, which has sponsored the South Korean football squad the past 12 years, is enjoying status as a preferred bidder, meaning that the football body will not negotiate with another company unless talks fall through.
Nike had paid the KFA a total of 15 billion won ($16.3 million) in the five-year contract that expires on Dec. 31. The U.S. company suggested a contract renewal to the KFA that would be worth 20 billion won in the next four years.
The KFA had turned down Nike's initial offer and asked for a four-year deal worth 25 billion won, the official said. Nike must decide whether or not to accept the offer by Oct. 22.
The negotiation deadline with Nike was originally set at Sept. 30, but the KFA's board voted to extend the deadline last month, drawing a suspicious look from the union.
``The KFA seems intent on granting Nike the exclusive rights and has been effectively blocking other companies from joining the bid,'' Kim said.
The KFA denied such accusations, saying the deadline extension was inevitable as the board meeting was summoned at a later date than scheduled.
The union also questioned why the KFA offered a contingent deal to Nike when other companies were ready to jump in the bid.
Adidas, proving to be a heavy hitter, is promising a four-year deal worth about 29.3 billion won, KFA officials said.
However, should Nike agree to the 25 billion won deal, the Adidas offer is cleared from the table.
Union officials suspect the KFA is held hostage by Nike due to the ``blackout option'' in past deals. The option called for national team players to erase the logos on their cleats with black markers if they are not Nike products.
According to Kim, there had been more than 100 violations of this clause in the past five years, and the amount of annual fines could be more than the 3 billion won the KFA gets from Nike every year.
Kim suspects that should Nike fail to resign with the KFA, it could threaten to sue the football body over the sponsorship violations.
``The blackout option is basically why we call the past deal a slave contract. Conventionally, football sponsorship deals don't include the cleats chosen by players,'' Kim said.
A KFA official downplayed the angle, but admitted that football officials demanded Nike to lift the blackout clause in current negotiations.
``There is no problem in selecting a preferred winner, as such processes are acknowledged even by the International Olympic Committee (IOC),'' said Ryu Young-chul, a KFA spokesman.
``We will not discuss the deal with other companies than Nike before Oct. 22, and we have already given them our Maginot Line,'' he said.