Adidas Cancels UCF Deal Over Jordan’s Jordans

Well, that didn’t take long. Hours ago, UCF announced that His Heirness Marcus Jordan would be taking the floor in tonight’s exhibition in his dad’s Air Jordans. According to Darren Rovell at CNBC, adidas has responded… by summarily canceling their $1.9 million sponsorship with the Golden Knights.

Marcus Jordan Exclusive Air Jordans
(But what of the custom-made Air Jordans? All people get those before their freshman year, right?)

The immediate ramifications - financial and otherwise - are as yet unknown, but adidas says all notions of a contract extension with the school are completely off the table. And our question is pretty simple: where the hell was Michael Jordan on this one?

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Score One For The Swoosh: Marcus Jordan In Nike

A couple weeks ago, we brought you news that Marcus Jordan, son of Michael Jordan, was refusing to comply with the school’s adidas shoe deal, insisting instead on wearing Nike on account of his father’s inextricable history with the brand. The story was that UCF had granted him permission to wear Nikes in exchange for signing with the school, up until some executives at adidas balked at the deal afterward.

Marcus Jordan Exclusive Air Jordans
(Will Marcus be stepping out in his Air Jordan exclusives?)

Well, score one for the plucky underdogs at Nike; Phil Knight and his rag-tag gang of misfits have finally gotten their big break. As the SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’s Twitter feed reported, young Marcus is in his Nikes tonight. WHEW. Thought they’d never get their way.

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Must Marcus Jordan Always Be His Father’s Son?

Odd news from ESPN today, as UCF’s Marcus Jordan - son of His Airness Michael, of course - is refusing to comply with the Golden Knights’ shoe deal. UCF has a $3 million dollar with adidas, while (not suprisingly) Jordan won’t wear anything but his dad’s Air Jordans.

UCF jersey adidas logo
(It’s an adidas logo. It’s not made of poison.)

While it’s fine and normal for Marcus to want to honor his dad (if this is, indeed, Marcus’ decision alone), it seems slightly improper to do so in this way. We’re not going to chastise Marcus much for not understanding the way endorsement and equipment deals work - he’s just a freshman in college - but there are several causes for concern here, and nearly all point right back at Dad.

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Pele Says He’ll Rep Brazil ‘Til Death; Where’s MJ?

The IOC’s highly anticipated 2016 Summer Olympics vote is tomorrow, and what initially appeared to be a slam dunk for the USA has turned into a legitimate two-horse race.

Pele
(Pele, representing his country by holding up a Brazilian flag. Please disregard the flag in his other hand.)

Try as President Obama might, Chicago is facing stiff competition from Rio de Janeiro for hosting rights, and it might have something to do with the fact that the Brazilian athletic community is pulling out all the stops. And by that, of course, we mean bringing Pele to Copenhagen on Friday to represent Brazil’s bid. When one thinks of Chicago’s most famous athletes, of course, the list starts and ends with Brad Sellers Michael Jordan. He’s not going to Copenhagen, though, and that means it’s time for Pele to somehow overstate his importance. Mission accomplished.

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Nike: Vick Has No Endorsement Contract With Us

You’ll recall yesterday that we passed along the announcement from the SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL’s “Sports Sponsorship Symposium” that Michael Vick had reached an endorsement deal from Nike. It was a bit of a shock, all things considered, but it’s not the first time Nike’s given one of their athletes a second chance after a PR disaster (see Bryant, Kobe).

Michael Vick Nike shoe
(Still not yours.)

But yes, about that. Nike’s spokesperson, Kejuan Williams, decided to clear this morning. According to Darren Rovell at CNBC, Williams and Nike declared unequivocally that Vick, in fact, has no endorsement contract with Nike.

So where did the snafu come from?

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Peter Vecsey Gets MJ to Walk Out of Hall of Fame

In case you haven’t heard, Nike’s at it again, reappropriating 9/11 for their own crass commercial purposes as Michael Jordan gets inducted into the Hall of Fame. Wait, I’m sorry, we’re told that is a wildly untrue statement and that Nike had nothing to do with the date of induction. We regret the error. Anyway, MJ is being inducted today; presumably, the day belongs to him.

Michael Jordan HOF

But while Jordan grabs the headlines, there are other people being inducted today, most notably John Stockton and David Robinson, two titans of the era in their own right. And while their inductions are generally of the off-without-a-hitch variety, there’s also Peter Vecsey, a NEW YORK POST reporter who’s being inducted for lord knows why. And that’s the real highlight here, folks, because by all accounts, last night, he delivered the worst induction speech of all time.

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Reggie & Kimmy K. Getting Back Together Again?

Reggie Bush & Kim Kardashian are gonna give love another chance.

Reggie Bush Kim Kardashian

It’s gotta be the new hair!

• Those 38 wins by the Memphis Tigers two years ago? The NCAA declares that it never happened.

• That seems a bit harsh. Next thing you’ll tell me, giving cream cheese to athletes would be considered an NCAA violation.

Plaxico Burress pleads guilty to gun possession charge, will spend the next two seasons playing for the penal pigskin league.

• First Patrick Kane, and now Aqib Talib. Why do pro athletes hate cabbies so much?

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Nike: Just Do As Serial Killer Says, Not As He Does

As a late convert to the awesomeness that is “Mad Men”, I’ve been going around annoying all everyone I know babbling about how sweet the show is. Everyone else went through their wannabe-Don Draper phase a couple years ago, but I’m just getting to it now. Deal with it, and someone get me a drink, stat. In any case, now that I’m a Mad Men viewer, I’m totally qualified to discuss advertising and branding with the best of ‘em.

Don Draper Nike Just Do It

For example, take “Just Do It.” Nike’s been telling us that for years, but what are they really saying? The uninitiated (read: people that haven’t watched as much Mad Men as I have) might think that it’s an exhortation to athletic excellence, or at least a request to buy more shoes. Those of us who are experts in advertising, however, know that it’s all about serial killers. That’s right - serial killers.

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Erin Andrews Appears in Gritty Gridiron GQ Shoot

Erin Andrews gets down & dirty in a new photoshoot for GQ magazine.

Erin Andrews GQ 2

• Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable ducks & weaves from questions about his alleged clobbering of assistant Randy Hanson.

• Hey, Georgia Bulldogs fans - please pass the caviar, s’il vous plait!

Jeremy Mayfield’s stepmom won’t keep off her stepson’s lawn. What, is she high? Why, yes she is!

• A group of senior bowlers in Oregon put the beat down on a would-be purse snatcher. We must protect these lanes!

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Jordan, Nike Turn Hall Of Fame Into Hall Of Fake

Michael Jordan’s not a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame yet. He’s been voted in, of course, and he’ll be inducted on 9/11 (Guys, you couldn’t have picked a better day? Like literally any other day?), but technically, he’s not there yet. But he’s got an exhibit there already in advance of his enshrinement.

Michael Jordan Hall of Fake
(Hey, neat, right?)

It’s a sprawling shrine to the man who revolutionized not only pro basketball but corporate sponsorship - and therein lies a rather jarring problem. That entire exhibit to him, full of sneakers and championship rings? None of it came from MJ himself.

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