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The launching of Air Jordan

Falk holds one of the early Air Jordan shoes, which Nike first produced in 1984.
Photo by: NICK GRINER
In August 1984, a brand was born when David Falk set out to find a shoe deal for Michael Jordan not long after the Chicago Bulls made Jordan the third pick in the NBA draft. Neither Falk nor Jordan knew that they would end up redefining the basketball shoe business, if not sports marketing altogether.

In fact, Nike wasn’t even Jordan’s first choice as Falk leveraged the competition.

Jordan liked Adidas. Next was probably Converse, the industry

{podcast}

SBJ Podcast:
NBA writer John Lombardo and Champions editor Tom Stinson discuss David Falk's career and what he has meant to both NBA contract negotiation and the marketing of athletes.

leader at the time with Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird the company’s biggest endorsers. But none of them had their own line of shoes or even their own television commercials.

“Coming out of college, Adidas were my favorite shoes,” Jordan said in an email. “I played in Converse, but I practiced in Adidas. David was working with Nike on a deal to make my own line of shoes. I had already visited Converse, Spot-Bilt and New Balance. My parents forced me to get on the plane and listen to Nike’s presentation, so I did. When they made their offer, we then went back to Adidas to match it, but they didn’t — they didn’t even come close. In the end, it was my parents who pushed me to sign with Nike.”

But it was Falk who saw the future not just in Jordan as an NBA superstar, but also as a brand.

“I said it was not about the money,” Falk said, “but you have to make [Jordan] his own line of products.”

Falk suggested Nike call the shoe line “Michael Jordan,” but the late Nike executive Rob Strasser balked at the name.

“Rob said that no one will believe that a 20-year-old basketball player is a designer,” Falk said. “I said, ‘How can you have a signature line without a signature.’ Rob said that was my challenge.’”

Falk said that at the time Nike was touting its Air Sole technology for its running shoes. That was enough inspiration for Falk to come up with the now iconic Air Jordan name.

“It took two minutes,” he said.

Falk also got Nike to agree to spend $1 million in marketing during the first six months of the Air Jordan shoe launch along with giving Jordan 1,500 shares of stock in the company. The original five-year deal also paid Jordan $500,000 annually along with a $1 million annuity.

“To this day, I probably owe Michael more than I can express,” Falk said, adding that Jordan still teases him about the deal.

“He always says, ‘It was your first good idea and your last good idea.’”

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