Michael Jordan‘s impact in popularizing basketball and expanding the influence of the NBA as a global brand cannot be stressed enough. The worldwide popularity of the Chicago Bulls legend during his dominant stint in the 90s still pays its dividends to the league. However, Jordan’s contribution to the world of sports exceeds his exploits on the hardwood and even his Championship runs. In fact, what Michael Jordan achieved with Nike throughout the course of his career, has revolutionized the way athletes and fans look at the business side of things in any sport. And it all transpired after a little nudge from MJ’s mother, Deloris Jordan.
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The Ben Affleck directed 2023 movie Air illustrates how an up-and-coming sports apparel brand became a global behemoth racking up $46.7 billion in annual revenue within decades of signing a promising rookie prospect from Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan was initially reluctant to sign with Nike, and preferred Adidas instead, which was a much more established brand. However, his mother’s request to consider Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro’s pitch would revolutionize sports contracts forever. Jordan now reportedly earns $255,000,000 per year, which is three times more than his total NBA career earnings of $94 million, courtesy of his lucrative deal with Nike.
Michael Jordan earns a quarter of a billion from Nike every year
In 1984, Michael Jordan signed a $2.5 million deal with Nike. The brand expected to sell $3 million worth of shoes in the first three years of the deal. However, they ended up with $126 million in revenue the very first year of sales. And the rest is history.
Since Nike wasn’t a big name back in the day, the company offered Jordan perhaps the most historic deal in sports history. Apart from the money offered in the contract, the brand also promised the 1982 NCAA Champion 5% of the total revenue from Air Jordan sales. The ‘outrageous’ deal(in hindsight) has turned out to be the best business decision by any athlete ever and a major building block behind the five-time NBA champion’s $2 billion net worth.
Nike has really pushed the Jordan brand for the past few years, which has compounded its sales. According to Joe Pompliano, the Jordan brand has almost doubled its annual revenue in the past few years, from $2.8 billion(in 2018) to $5.1 billion(in 2022). This has afforded His Airness a handsome yearly allowance of $255 million in royalty.
https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1677072865160577025?s=20
Jordan has really come a long way from being an underpaid NBA superstar, to now the owner of a multi-billion dollar business Empire. The majority of MJ’s $94 million career earnings came in the last two years of his stint with the Bulls. The 14-time NBA All-Star raked in a total of over $63 million from 1996 to 1998, after earning barely anything the rest of his career compared to the business he brought into the league.
Jordan’s ‘Red Car’ almost cost him his Nike deal
As a young man seeing a lot of money for the first time, MJ didn’t have his priorities straight. In fact, Jordan was more interested in getting a $40,000 red Mercedes 380SL from the brands interested in signing him, than anything else.
However, the rising star was yet to realize his potential in the NBA world. It is safe to say Michael Jordan’s deal with Nike revolutionized how athletes across all sports view their contracts with different brands nowadays.
