Michael Jordan is not the kind of guy you scorn or interrupt. Not especially, if he is involved in a negotiation. And most certainly not when he is striking a deal involving the ownership of an NBA team. His agent found out this the hard way.
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It is not often that any NBA player gets the opportunity to negotiate a deal around owning a piece of an NBA team. One that would perhaps put them on a select group of people that had the rights to the 30 total teams in the league.
So, when the opportunity came knocking at Jordan’s door, it seems as though his long-time agent David Falk was not careful enough. In fact, Falk’s callousness cost him $3000!
Michael Jordan’s Anger led to him charging his agent with a $3000 bottle of wine
Anger and rage are emotions that more often than not lead to bad decisions. So, when Falk interrupted the negotiations between Michael Jordan and Ted Leonisis, the then-owner of Washington Capitals and Wizards, it cost him.
Falk didn’t know what was going on and decided to interject numerous times. “Hit him where it hurts,”, Jordan told Leonisis, while David was present in the room.
And then, later on, Jordan called the St. Regis Hotel’s suite, where the meeting took place, and asked them to charge a 1961 Chateau Latour to Falk.
The bottle of wine retailed for $3000 at the time. Currently, it retails for over $5700! So much for being MJ’s agent. Perhaps, Jordan did it out of spite and anger. But he most certainly did it because Falk once denied a $1,000,000 shoe deal and got him hundreds of millions instead.
David Falk helped Michael Jordan choose Nike by refusing a $1,000,000 shoe deal
Falk was instrumental in helping MJ secure his money and make the right deals. Especially during the early part of his career.
In fact, David was the one who orchestrated the whole deal. Jordan wanted to be an Adidas athlete and the brand with the three stripes had offered him $1,000,000.
But Falk oversaw all the deals presented to him and ensured that Nike raised their value, thus landing them MJ’s signature. He has made billions since. And Jordan charging his agent $3000 was more of a showoff than a lesson.
