FOR NIKE, JORDAN DELIVERED THE GOODS AND MORE

Interesting article written by Yahoo Sports writer on Michael Jordan's obvious impact on the world of Basketball shoes and merchandise. He was instrumental in building one of the biggest if not biggest brand in athletic apparel. He paved the way for athletes such as Lebron to currently have a $90 Million dollar shoe deal by humbly signing on a dotted line in 1985 for $500,000 and a piece of the sales. In 1984 Nike was a company who's revenues didn't even cross the $900 million, by 1997 it had hit $9.19 Billion, built mainly on the back of Michael Jordan. Even more remarkable is that the Jordan brand has so much equity that it continues to thrive despite his retirement from basketball.

The men of Nike had gathered in the Oregon woods, taking an off-site meeting in a mansion where a change of scenery might assist as the company charted an expensive and daring path into professional basketball.

Phil Knight was there. So was his right-hand man, Rob Strasser, lawyer Howard Shluser and designer Peter Moore, among a host of staffers.

At the time none of them knew much, if anything, about a skinny, 6-foot-6 shooting guard from North Carolina named Michael Jordan. They certainly couldn’t have dreamed what he would mean to their company.

On Friday, Jordan will be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as the greatest basketball player to ever lace them up. His impact on what gets laced up in every sport these days is even greater than his on-court accomplishments.

And it all started that January day in 1984. Knight founded Nike in the early 1970s to produce running shoes. To that point, its forays into pro hoops had been unsuccessful.

Now Nike wanted to try again. In 1979, Knight had met John Paul “Sonny” Vaccaro, a basketball maven who pitched a groundbreaking idea: The company would sign endorsement deals with college coaches who, in turn, could turn their players into billboards for the brand.

At first, no one even knew if it was legal, let alone if the colleges would allow it. But by the time of the off-site meeting, Nike owned much of the college game – overnight, Vaccaro had delivered signature programs from Georgetown to UNLV.

“I was charmed by Sonny,” Knight would say. “After that, we gave him all the room he wanted.”

As successful as the college venture had been, Knight knew the big money was in the surging pro game, where Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had vaulted the league’s popularity. Both players, however, wore Converse.

The men at the meeting were following Nike’s well-worn path of thinking far outside the box. With most of the NBA’s top players already locked up to Converse, Nike officials thought they should gamble on a rookie, a fresh new face for the league.

Even more daring that that, Nike was considering creating and marketing a signature shoe around the player, and selling not just a piece of footwear, but an entire package of performance and personality..... READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE