Assuming everyone
knows his history from UNC, then as a Chicago Bull, his small baseball career,
and coming out of retirement to play 2 years for the Washington Wizards. We all
know I could talk all day about his 6 NBA titles, 5 MVP awards, All-Defensive
First Team 9 times, 2 Olympic gold medals, the list is endless. I want to focus
on the amount he put into the city of Chicago, his ever-growing 'Jumpman 23'
brand (more specifically his shoes), and its manifestation to social media and
marketing today.
When Jordan played in Chicago for the 1998 season the team was
worth more than $200million. By the 1996-97 season, his yearly salary just from
basketball alone skyrocketed to a close to $33million. I guess that’s what
winning will get you. 1985 was the first year of Nike's Air Jordan which
grossed over $130 million. That’s before the Jordan shoe game even blew up, after
a single year and grossing that amount of money is some serious cash.
Something, along with his game records, that will forever be untouchable. By
1998, Jordan had reportedly made over $130 million just from the endorsement
with Nike. Jordan's name had generated $10 billion in revenue just for the game
of basketball. A career salary at $93.7 million in the NBA isn’t to shabby. He
is now worth $500 million with age at half of a century. The Nike Air
Jordan brand of shoes is responsible for over $1 billion in annual sales for
Nike. I wonder if Adidas ever second-guessed their decision not to offer a shoe
deal with him, hmm.
But ‘It Must Be The Shoes!’ As MJ’s big birthday is right around
the corner he has released countless shoes. The retro III ’88 which were also
the first shoe to have the famous ‘Jumpman’ Jordan logo stitched on. One in
particular is the XII’s in navy and electric yellow known as the ‘Squadron Blue’
which I suppose should note sold out everywhere in just a short 10 hours. Two
different colors of the original Jordan I plus a Melo pack, a Black History
Month Pack. I’ll be quiet for a second and just take a look for yourself:
I personally think it’s insane the amount of rave the shoes still
get. If he drops a new shoe or the same shoe just with different colors or a re-released
retro shoe it makes national headlines and trends on twitter for days. For
example, the Jordan XI ‘Concords’ that released at the end of 2011, where
people camped out days in advance much like Black Friday just for a $180 pair
of shoes. It was one of the most anticipated shoe releases of all-time, the
shoes would later go on to sell for close to $1000 on eBay. There was even once
a rumored death in the D.C. area just for a pair of shoes. I’m a huge
sneaker-head and not a lot comes in between us and our shoes I know this but “death
over designer” is to the extreme. Twitter blew up and the pair of kicks trended
for a week.
Its no wonder Michael Jordan is a household name for the amount of
impact he has had in the hearts of fans, the fashion world, and the game of
basketball.
I can only imagine
what he may surprise us with on his birthday Sunday and the amount of trending
topics about his legacy and the epic shoe releases. It will be interesting to
watch and I will keep you posted with updates of trending topics about the
latest MJ news this week on the anticipation of his 50th.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter:
@PostScriptSport
P.S. all this Jordan shoe talk makes me want to add to my collection, I think it’s time to purchase the Jordan XII Cool Greys. Agree? Disagree? Comment back and let me know what your favorite Jordan shoe of all time is.
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