A few random thoughts here:
1. Coisty09's posts are in line with my own intuition (no inside knowledge I'm afraid) about what's happening here. The announcement was essentially the club's latest attempt to be rid of Sports Direct.
2. I think by far the most important part of the statement is "we shall be engaging with potential partners that can deliver an official Rangers kit supply and retail operation that mirrors the demand of the club’s global fan base".
3. If my understanding is correct, this is how Liverpool got out of their deal with New Balance. Although New Balance was willing to match Nike's deal financially, the court accepted that Nike's global reach was so much greater that New Balance could not match the deal in distribution terms.
4. So I think what the club is trying to do is get a partner who can distribute our kits in parts of the world (America/Australasia/Asia) where Sports Direct just don't have the same level of presence.
5. That in turn suggests to me that for this strategy to work, our supplier probably has to be Nike or Adidas - they are probably the only brands who can blow Sports Direct out of the water in terms of global distribution.
6. The question will be whether Nike or Adidas are up for the fight. They will have to assume that Sports Direct will challenge any deal we do with them in court.
Think either would be up for a fight as they love to brand football teams with a worldwide following.
7. But the fundamental point is that by getting a retail deal with one of the really big boys in kit manufacturing/supply, Rangers will feel confident in saying that Sports Direct can't match it, regardless of how much money they throw at it.
8. I too thought the Hummel deal had one year to go, but I think the High Court injunction prevents it from going into year 3. It might actually suit Rangers for this to be the case, as it may allow us to drop Elite and Hummel a year early without penalties. If I recall correctly from reading the judgment when the terms of the injunction were relaxed to allow us to sue Elite, I think we have liberty to apply to the court to relax the injunction further if we are unable to secure a kit supplier for next season.