Michael Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas, not Nike!

What a deal it would have been! So much money, so much revenue for Adidas! But then, Good opportunities get missed every day, what a shame this had to be one of them!Legendary basketball player, Michael Jordan, has revealed that he did not want to sign with Nike back in the days, he only wanted to sign with Adidas in 1984, however Adidas felt he was not a priority. Guess they be having second thoughts right now (lol).

During the 5th episode of “The Last Dance“, Michael Jordan explained the whole thing. According to him, he wanted to sign with Adidas, and not to sign with Nike to the point to his mom had to force him to get on a plane and sit in a meeting with reps from Nike just to hear what they had to say. He said, “My mother said, ‘You’re gonna go listen. You may not like it, but you’re gonna go listen,’ She made me get on that plane and go listen.”

According to him, he felt that Nike were just not in the ‘top-flight’ status, hence he was more into Adidas. However, when he finally met with representatives from Adidas, they made it clear that they had no intention of pushing him to be their premier athlete, and they would not be open to giving him his own shoe. Funny enough, Converse, which happened to be another top-flight sneaker company at that time, also did not see him as being their ‘top guy’. Michael Jordan resigned himself to fate and took the meeting with Nike. You know the rest of the story; money came piling up!

See – Michael Jordan’s Biography, Net Worth & Investments

Michael Jordan added that he “Go into that meeting not wanting to be there, and Nike made this big pitch, My father said, ‘You’d have to be a fool not taking this deal. This is the best deal.'” The sneaker company, Nike, were working on their “Air” tech, which they incorporated into Michael Jordan’s shoe, naming it “Air Jordan”. Legendary director, Spike Lee, was in fact hired to direct the commercials, and they were off-the-charts!

Nike projected a $3 million revenue from the sales in a four-year period. However, they ended up with $126 million in the first year ALONE! In fact, it is highly indisputable to state that Jordans is the most popular shoe in the world, raking in millions of dollars annually. Michael Jordan not signing with Adidas and signing with Nike would probably go down as one of the biggest decisions of his life. This goes both ways too!