Michael Jordan was initially hesitant to even take a meeting with Nike executives back in 1984, let alone sign with them. This may seem ludicrous as of 2023 but back in ‘84, this was perfectly reasonable. Nike wasn’t known for being a brand that catered towards basketball as they mostly made shoes for track-and-field athletes.
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Adidas was the company that MJ felt gravitated towards the most. Converse had nearly monopolized the basketball sneaker market at the time as well, having signed the likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Julius Erving.
However, having gotten berated by his parents, James and Deloris, into attending the meeting with Nike, Michael would eventually show up and sign with them. The initial deal had him for 5 years with a flat pay of $500,000 a year. The main selling point for Jordan was the fact that they were going to construct a signature shoe for him from the get-go.
Michael Jordan has earned Nike $19 billion in 5 years
Nike projected and hoped that Michael’s Air Jordan 1 would bring in $3 million over the course of 4 years. Instead, the first 12 months saw Nike make close $130 million. There was no turning back for the company from this as they soon established themselves as basketball sneaker conglomerates soon enough.
As of last year, Nike generates $3 million from Jordan brand sales in just 5 hours. According to Boardroom, over the course of these past 5 years, Jordan brand has brought in a whopping $19 billion for Nike.
Michael Jordan receives 5%, a percentage that is abysmally low, on every single sale from a Jordan brand product. As of 2020, he had earned $1.3 billion from his contract with Nike, the most by any athlete in NBA history by a wide margin.
Nike signed LeBron James to a lifetime deal
Michael Jordan isn’t the only NBA player to have a lifetime deal worth billions of dollars with Nike. LeBron James signed one as well that would run as long as James would want it to, essentially meaning he’s signed to Nike for life.
It’s unclear how much LeBron makes from the sales of his products but considering the fact that he’s now worth over $1 billion, it’s safe to say that he has a deal similar to what MJ has. The royalty he gets from each product’s sale certainly contributed significantly to building ‘The King’s’ billion dollar empire.
