MICHAEL JORDAN said he intends to visit Asia this off-
season to witness the labor conditions at Nike-contracted
factories: "I just want to see for myself. A lot of
complaints are being made." ESPN's Stuart Scott asked, "How
critical an evaluation are you going to give?" Jordan: "I'm
going to give it very serious [thought]. Not to a point
where I'm going to make political stands, I'm going [to] go
there and evaluate from my perspective." Scott: "Could you
ever see yourself severing ties with anyone because of the
way that they do things is not up to your standards or not
the way that you want it to be?" Jordan: "Sure. If I feel
that some things are being taken advantage of, then sure.
If I have any opportunities to get out of the deal, or get
out of the situation, then I will. And I think that
hopefully [the company] would understand that" (ESPN, 6/8).
THE FALKAN GRIP: DAVID FALK, on Jordan's retirement
plans: "I think he still enjoys playing basketball. And I
think he would like to continue to play. But only if they
can win another championship. I don't think he'd want to
come back just for the money." Falk, on the recent sale of
his FAME to SFX Entertainment: "The sale hopefully will have
little impact day-to-day on my players. It might create
additional marketing opportunities because we will have more
clout than we had before. I still will represent my
people." More Falk: "Our merger starts a trend where you
are going to see similar businesses dramatically consolidate
over the next three or four years. And there'll be much
fewer agencies and significantly fewer independent agents
because I think that the wage scale will increase for the
rookies this year or next year. And the union will advocate
a rule to not let agents charge rookies for negotiating
rookie contracts" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/9).
