Michael Jordan revolutionized the basketball industry in 1984 when he signed with Nike for $2.5 million over the course of 5 years. one of the best marketing schemes for the Air Jordan 1s came from the fact that the NBA didn’t allow shoes that didn’t have at least 51% white or black on them to be worn on NBA hardwood. The AJ1s had a predominantly red colorway that brewed quite a bit of trouble for Nike. Financially that is.
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Jordan was asked to relinquish $5,000 every time he stepped foot on the court with Jordan 1s or the Air Ships and Nike stepped in to front the bill for their signature athlete. This was the best marketing Nike could’ve had for their sneakers.
The ‘Banned’ 1s became iconic and only rose the ceiling for what they could become from a cultural standpoint. While the Air Jordan 2s were a disappointment, the line of sneakers progressed none the less, with it potentially peaking in 1995-96.
Michael Jordan was fined $5,000 in 1995
Michael Jordan returned from baseball towards the end of the NBA’s 1994-95 regular season. The Bulls made the Playoffs and would go on to face the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference SemiFinals.
After losing Game 1, Michael decided to switch it up a bit and reverted back to his number 23 jersey after rocking number 45 up until that point in the ’95 season. This change by MJ was not notified to the NBA by the Bulls, leading to the Bulls being fined $25,000 for each game that he wore his previous number.
To add onto the fine money, Michael Jordan lost $5,000 as reported by the Chicago Tribune in 1995 after wearing his newest Jordan 11 sneakers. This was because the colorway he wore didn’t match the jerseys him and his teammates were wearing during the game.
The Jordan 11 is the greatest sneaker of all time
SlamKicks recently released their list of the top 100 greatest basketball sneakers of all time and the Jordan 11s were ranked as the number 1 basketball shoe in history. This isn’t surprising given just how far ahead of their time the 11s were with their patent leather, traction pattern, and carbon fiber shank plate.
Not to mention the fact that Michael Jordan had the greatest season of his career while wearing the 11s. he won the regular season MVP, led the Bulls to 72 wins, won the championship, and claimed the Finals MVP. He also wore the 11s during Space Jam.
