In a scene from the HBO Max series
Victory Time: The Lakers Dynasty one of the founders of Nike, Phil Knight, was approached in 1979 by
Magic Johnson, when he had just signed for the Los Angeles Lakers. He offered her an endorsement contract in exchange for shares in the company and a pair of revolutionary sneakers that would bear his name.
But instead of going with Nike, Johnson instead accepted the $100,000 he was offered.
Converse, the brand that dominated the college and professional basketball courts. He had just lost 145 million dollars a year, according to Forbes data from 2019. The one who did accept was
Michael Jordan, who currently earns for this reason, while already retiring, more money than many active NBA players, even surpasses Rafa Nadal or Lionel Messi.
The story of how Nike and Jordan struck a deal and changed the sneaker industry is the story of
Air, Ben Affleck’s fifth film as a director and the first from the new production company he has created with Matt Damon. Both star in this film, which opens on
April 5 in theaters and can be seen later on
Prime Video.
Ben Affleck directs Air and also plays Phil Knight, one of the founders of Nike. /
The big unknown has been for many months which actor was going to play the basketball player. Lopia’s answer is none. Michael Jordan is not a character in his own story. Affleck has defended his decision a few days ago with these words: «Air is about what Michael Jordan means to the sports world, what he was, how he transformed sports and sports marketing, and how athletes were compensated and treated. It’s really about the immensity of what Jordan meant to basketball and people in general.” Even so, the director requested Jordan’s approval before starting this project and the player only put one condition: that
Viola Davis She would play her mother.
Nike’s contract with Michael Jordan
His mother precisely played an important role in the negotiation. After all, Michael Jordan was a young college boy who had not turned 20 years old. In the early 1980s, Nike wanted to expand its market from athletics to other sports and
Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman on Air) bet on Michael Jordan to try to steal market share from Converse. But Jordan preferred the German brand Adidas.
to convince him,
Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) tempted him with a contract that changed sports marketing forever. He offered him $500,000 over five years, two cars, and shoes designed specifically for him that would bear his name and his own logo (a basketball with wings and his name).
In exchange, he stipulated some sports conditions that he had to meet (at least one) during the following three years: maintain an average of 20 points per game, win the rookie of the year award, be selected in the NBA All Stars or sell four million dollars worth of sneakers in the first three years. The one who is considered the
best player in nba history according to ESPN he fulfilled it more than enough.
Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, who negotiated with Jordan’s mother over the details of the contract. /
Nike Air Jordan I
Michael Jordan became the first NBA player to wear shoes that were not totally white, as the first
Nike Air Jordan they were red and black. The league fined the player $5,000 for each game for breaking uniform rules, which the brand was happy to pay. As the documentary remembers
Unbanned: The legend of AJ-1, Nike even took advantage of this by creating an ad with the tagline: “Luckily, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”
Never have a shoe flown higher. The Nike Air Jordan I went on sale in
1985 and generated in their first year
100 million dollars profit. After this first model, they launched many more (in addition to other products) under Jordan’s personal brand, represented by the silhouette of the player at the moment of throwing a dunk. Currently, almost the
10% of NBA players wear Air Jordan shoes and more than 60%, Nike.
