Michael Jordan’s Dispute with Father James Jordan Over $2M Nike Stores Resurfaces Amid Max Verstappen’s Issue with the Brand

Michael Jordan is the most successful athlete in recent history. The 6-time NBA champion has built a net worth of $2.2 billion and a negligible chunk of it was made from his NBA paycheck. One of the first few in league history to get their own multi-million shoe deal, MJ was the most fortunate of them all. Or perhaps it was Nike that was fortunate to have found His Airness.

The Sports Apparel company and Michael Jordan went on to create a multi-billion dollar brand that has become synonymous with stylish sneakers. Jordan was a flagbearer for the likes of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant who have gone on to build their own empires over shoe deals and other endorsements.

But like any star dealing with a brand like Nike, MJ had his ups and downs with the company. With Max Verstappen’s recent troubles with Nike, Jordan and his troubles, which unfortunately involved his father James Jordan, have resurfaced.

Michael Jordan had to shut down Nike’s Flight 23 Project after James Jordan’s blunders

In his book Michael Jordan: The Life, Roland Lazenby discusses James Jordan in detail. Fascinatingly, James, MJ’s beloved father, was a very contradictory personality. Consider the time James stole from General Electrics. Despite the proven theft, most that worked with him considered him a genuinely good person.

James’ life was bifurcated into two distinct people. One was a kind and charming man, and the other was shady and dubious. But James’ shady side reached its boiling point after Nike launched its Flight 23 stores.

Initially, the stores found success and the business quickly turned into a $2 million enterprise. However, James Jordan’s fights with Deloris, coupled with his failure at running the Flight 23 stores pushed Jordan to seek Sonny Vaccaro’s help to close down the store. In his book, Roland Lazenby wrote:

Roland Lazenby: “While the public saw James Jordan as a nice, hardworking man, Nike quickly discovered that he was a nightmare running the small chain of stores. He was known to do some drinking, and he dealt with crises by ignoring them. He also ignored bills owed to suppliers, Vaccaro recalled. “He wasn’t paying for the T-shirts and all that.” Beyond that, there was increasing evidence that he was philandering, which further fired the conflict with Deloris. “James was a scoundrel and he created a lot of the problems,” Vaccaro said. “It was horrible. He owed money and his kid was making zillions.””

When the word of his father’s troubles reached Jordan, he seeked out Sonny to clean up the mess and close the store down. Michael Jordan was annoyed by the Flight 23 stores and wished for the financial damage to stop.

Lazenby: “One of Vaccaro’s last chores for Nike and Jordan was cleaning up the final details of the mess with the Flight 23 stores and James Jordan. “Michael was frustrated with not being able to just close it down,” Vaccaro recalled. “It got to the point where he stood up and said that James had to close it down. If money could stop it, it had to be stopped.””

Max Verstappen’s dispute with Nike

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen found himself in trouble ahead of the launch of his ‘Max 1’ apparel brand. But Nike intervened before the launch and claimed that Verstappen’s brand was a trademark infringement. Per Nike, Air Max and Max 1 are similar names and should be treated as infringement.

Furthermore, Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) had also sided with the global brand and acknowledged the similarities between them. This can potentially derail Verstappen’s entire brand entity. This might lead to a lengthy battle between the Red Bull star and the biggest Sports brand in the world.