EPL club Chelsea and Samsung have renewed their global partnership for three years, extending the deal until the end of the '12-13 season. Chelsea's shirt will continue to feature the Samsung logo, and Samsung will benefit from extensive sponsorship rights, including access to Chelsea players for marketing purposes. Samsung has been an official club sponsor of Chelsea since '05 ( Chelsea ). In London, Matt Hughes noted the extension is "believed to be an improvement on the present" US$18.1M-a-year package ( LONDON TIMES, 7/15 ). DOUBLE FAULT : SI.com's Jon Wertheim in his weekly mailbag noted the responses he received to a column in which he criticized Roger Federer's Nike attire at Wimbledon were as "intense as they were numerous." Wertheim: "Some of my objections come down to taste. I thought all the gold imagery was tacky. Some of you agree. Some of you disagree. ... What I really object to is the Nike agenda. Someone clearly determined that humility and modesty were insufficiently sexy or edgy. So they turn Federer into someone and something that he's not." Wertheim noted Federer has "some leverage here." Wertheim: "How great would it have been had he said, 'You know what, guys? I'm not sure this is the message I want to be sending here. Let's try again and come up with something a little less ostentatious'" ( SI.com, 7/15 ). FASHION STATEMENT : The Univ. of Southern Mississippi football team will sport new Nike uniforms during the '09 season. There will be three different jerseys -- in black, white and gold -- that will be paired with three different pants -- also in black, white and gold -- giving the team nine different uniform combinations. The pants also will feature a stripe starting at the players' hip and wrapping around the calf. This is the first time the team has had a major uniform change since the '01 season. The team's helmets will remain unchanged ( Southern Miss ). ROUNDUP : The N.Y. POST's Page Six reports Mets 3B David Wright is joining tennis player Serena Williams, Suns G Steve Nash and U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard as a "partner in the skin care line Mission, which donates proceeds to charity" ( N.Y. POST, 7/16 )....In N.Y., Brian Stelter notes a half-French, half-English language version of the "Open Happiness" tune Coca-Cola "created and sold last winter" will be released in time for the '10 Vancouver Olympics ( N.Y. TIMES, 7/16 ).
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