Michael Jordan having the success that he’s had with Nike feels more so like a fairytale the deeper you get into the nitty-gritty of how he ended up at the company. With his agent, David Falk, not even having set up a meeting between the Jordans and Nike, the latter was at a severe disadvantage from the get-go. Fast-forward to present day and Jordan Brand rakes in $3,000,000,000 a year in revenue. Falk provides a bit of insight on why this is more impressive than it already seems.
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MJ’s love for Adidas kept him from looking at any company and had Converse as a second option in his back-pocket. Of course, Sonny Vaccaro’s drive to sign Michael led him to go over Falk and journey to North Carolina and speak with Deloris and James Jordan on his own, eventually getting Nike a meeting with the UNC junior.
Falk’s hesitance changed over time and he became extremely involved with his client and Nike’s dealings.
David Falk on how much Michael Jordan brings in for Nike in a year
Michael Jordan was slated to bring in about $3 million or so in revenue during the first year projections and instead he raked in over $160 million in sales with his Air Jordan 1s. Nike knew they had a hit when it came to his line of shoes and they haven’t slowed down ever since.
During an interview with ‘SLAM’ in 2020 around the time of the ‘Last Dance’ being aired on Netflix, David Falk revealed how much Michael brings in for Nike and it certainly is a large amount.
“Jordan sells $3 billion worth of product a year. He sells more product that if you took every player in the League that has their own shoes, and you added up all the sales together and multiplied it by three, they don’t sell $3 billion,” said Falk.
This would mean that combining all the revenue from guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo would still not result in them holding a candle to the kind of money ‘His Airness’ brings in.
David Falk takes credit for the ‘Air Jordan’ name
Peter Moore felt as though he’d struck gold when he came up with the name ‘Air Jordan’ for the shoe he had designed for Michael Jordan. Nike had their ‘Air’ technology and given the fact that MJ played in the air, it was a perfect amalgamation of marketing with what they had to offer.
Unfortunately, David Falk had beaten Moore to the punch as he told Howard White, a Nike executive, the same exact name before Moore could. Falk is often credited with coming up with the name and until new information comes out, he will continue to be credited for it.
