Michael Jordan is a legend in the realm of basketball and has carefully built his reputation as one of the best players. By being good at what he does, he easily got lucrative deals, one of which is with the famous sports brand Nike.
But did you know that he wanted to sign a deal with Nike’s staunch rival Adidas back in the days? That’s hard to imagine because Michael, who is also known as MJ, is almost synonymous with the brand that has a check for its logo.
lev radin/Shutterstock | Michael Jordan has become synonymous with Nike
In the ‘80s, the Chicago Bulls star player preferred Adidas more than Nike simply because he felt that the latter brand didn’t provide the quality in its products that he was looking for. This was detailed in the documentary ‘The Last Dance,’ and it showed how Michael really didn’t want to sign with the American brand.
Philippe Bertrand/Unsplash | Nike wanted to sign Michael Jordan but he had his heart set out on Adidas
At the time, Nike wasn’t known as a juggernaut company that we know of today, and instead, it was famous for selling track shoes. The NBA had also struck a deal with Converse and big names in the sports industry like Magic Johnson were sporting this brand.
In a recently unearthed clip, Michael can be seen in a dorm of the University of North Carolina wearing a pair of Adidas – that’s how much of a fan he was. David Falk, his agent, wanted his client to take the Nike deal and because the basketball player was so stubborn as he didn’t even want to visit the brand’s campus, the representative spoke with the star’s parents to convince their child.
Chuttersnap/Unsplash | Adidas didn’t match Nike’s offer
It was allegedly because of the prodding of MJ’s mother that the star decided to check on the Nike deal. But in the last two minutes, before he signed his name on the dot, the basketball player went to Adidas to see if they wanted to match the offer.
At this point, it was clear that Michael’s heart really was with Adidas, which didn’t budge to his request. It was one of its biggest mistakes because the celebrity has made Nike famous and vice versa.
The lucrative deal earned Michael $1.3 billion, Forbes reported. Nike initially wished that in the fourth year of Air Jordan, it could rake in $3 million in sales – but this expectation was meek compared to the total earnings in the first year alone: an eye-popping $126 million.
