Michael Jordan's Nike contract paid him $2.5 million over five years. his mother demanded one extra clause that has since paid him over $1.3 billion.
in 1984 Jordan didn't want Nike. he wanted Adidas. he refused to even take the meeting.
his mother Deloris made him go.
Nike offered $500,000 a year - more than double Adidas. everyone in the room was ready to sign. Deloris wasn't. she called Nike's Sonny Vaccaro personally and told him her son needed something else: a percentage of every single shoe sold with his name on it.
nobody had ever done that. athletes got paid a fee and went home.
Nike reluctantly agreed.
they projected $3 million in Air Jordan sales for year one. they hit $126 million. in the first six weeks they sold 1.5 million pairs.
Jordan Brand now generates around $7 billion a year. Jordan personally collects roughly 5% of every item sold - over $350 million last year alone, decades after he stopped playing.
Nike was so unsure about him they wrote four escape clauses into the deal. he cleared every one in his rookie season.
"a shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it." - Deloris Jordan
the salary made him rich for five years. the clause his mother insisted on made him a billionaire forever โ
This Malik Tillman strike will live on forever in USMNT history.
Couple that with the heart & guts of a team that spent half an hour down a man in a knockout game yet still posted a clean sheet and itโs a performance that unites a country.
What a win. ๐บ๐ธ