Back in 1984, Adidas decided to pass on offering 21-year-old Michael Jordan a contract. This singular decision by the German executives would decide the fate of the sneaker world for decades to come. Back in the 80’s, Adidas was the leading brand in sporting apparel and sneakers. The now dominant brand ‘Nike’ was nothing but an upstart running shoe company. Jordan, who was a star at North Carolina, wanted to sign with Adidas, and it was no secret.
But Adidas had other plans. According to a Wall Street Article, published back in 2015, the Germans didn’t want to sign No. 23 due to “height concerns”. The top management at Adidas preferred to sign taller players, mostly centers. Their plans were more focused on the Kareem’s of the world, and Jordan didn’t quite fit the bill.
But in a surprising turn of events, Jordan would sign with Nike in the summer of ’84. In his book Michael Jordan: A Life, Nike’s Marketing Head, Sonny Vaccaro recalled his experience of signing Jordan to Nike. Talking about it he said,
“First of all, he didn’t compute the money. Second of all, he was still a kid, this guy coming out of North Carolina. Whatever. A shoe contract meant nothing back in the eighties. So he was indifferent. He didn’t want to come with us. He wanted to go with Adidas. In the eighties, Adidas had the nicest sweat suits.”
However, during the meeting with Vaccaro and Phil Knight, Jordan kept on pestering the executives about wanting a car. Recalling the incident, Vaccaro described a young Jordan as a “pain in the**”. But it was Vaccaro’s job to get Jordan onboard as he said, “If you take this deal you can buy any car you want”
Unsurprisingly enough, Jordan stayed adamant about wanting to buy a car. Automobiles aside, Vaccaro and Jordan wouldn’t enjoy the best of relations, as would be later revealed in the biography. Jordan found Vaccaro shady, a reputation that follows Vaccaro to this day.
Jordan even went as far as to say that it was due to his shady tactics, that MJ was reluctant to sign with Nike. As for Vaccaro, Jordan was nothing but a spoilt kid. But when it came to basketball, there was no one Vaccaro would take over No. 23. Both Nike and Jordan would go on to dominate in their arenas, while Adidas sat and watched from the sidelines.
Jordan only listens to family
During the summer of ’84, Jordan was faced with a plethora of sneaker deals, and Nike wasn’t on top of his list. Though Nike had a great offer for a 21-year-old Jordan, Michael refused to even hear it. It would be later revealed that it was Michael’s mother [Deloris Jordan], who convinced her son to attend the meeting.
The fateful meeting between Jordan and Nike would go rather well, as Nike would offer the youngster a $2.5 million sneaker deal. The deal also spawned the Air Jordan line of shoes. Though Nike sold over $123 million in Jordan 1’s, Michael wasn’t happy with his situation. In the year 1992, Michael was looking to exit his deal with Nike, and as faith would have it, MJ’s parents came to Nike’s rescue.
Surprisingly enough, Jordan stayed with Nike, and some of it had to do with the Jordan 3’s. The 3’s were Phil Knights’s trump card against Jordan leaving, as Michael never quite liked playing in the previous two models.
Jordan had broken in the foot due to the poor protection on the 1s. But luckily for Nike and Phil Knight, Michael’s parents saw the dedication the company showed towards their son, something they saw missing in Adidas and Converse.
As of today, Michael Jordan still outsells every basketball player in sneaker sales. Jordan takes home a whopping $256 million yearly from his contract with Nike. With Jordan’s legacy and Nike going strong, it will be interesting to see what happens to the line in the coming years, as both the league and fashion as a whole take on a whole new chapter in history.
