Last October, we all heard about the Adidas versus Nike shoe scandal that almost-famous Marcus Jordan had started. Now, word has come in that Nike has signed a five year deal that allows UCF sports teams to don their famous logo for all Knightly sporting events.
While many people knew that the option of Daddy Dearest Michael Jordan coming in to settle the whole fiasco could possibly come into play, I don’t think many of us expected it to happen. Even though UCF had sought a replacement for Adidas starting last December, I thought the next step would involve something drastic like players having to supply their own gear. I know I didn’t think Nike would come to the rescue, whatever the circumstance. After all, what makes one person so mighty that they can completely change a sponsorship that was in place long before they even enrolled?
What happens when the five year contract is up, and dear old Jordan has graduated or transferred from UCF? More than likely the lucrative free advertisement that the son of the creator of their own Air Jordan brand brings will shrivel and die once he’s no longer a Knight. How will Nike react to losing that? Well, my guess is that we’d be dropped, and Nike would continue with the other (markedly better) Florida universities (UF, FSU, and UM), leaving UCF to get a new deal or grovel at the feet of a brand we were perfectly fine with before.
Now, while style-wise, I must say that Nike is easily a better choice over Adidas, however little that matters, and that new uniforms and equipment for Fall 2010 will be nice to see. But in all fairness, this only shows the power one celebrity (however famous) has over a whole university sports program, all because his offspring threw a fit.
Like I said in October, Jordan Junior could have used the Adidas opportunity to his benefit, and be a team player and show that he could adapt in spite of a personally unfavorable situation. He could make his own image, step out his father’s size 13 shadow. But since fame and fortune seems to overrule, one person’s request has spurned a school-wide fashion change that could turn sour at any moment. There’s no “I” in team, but there’s a “me” in team, and now we know that Marcus Jordan and company prefers that “me” over everybody else.
I’m sure players far better than Jordan have made their mark in UCF history, and they did so in the gear that was provided. Now we know that someone, somewhere, worked some magic with Nike, and we’ll be donning the famous checkmark come August. I’m not saying that no good could come of this, but I’m absolutely positive that none of this would have even crossed anyone’s mind had Jordan not enrolled. All UCF has to do now is get another child of a famous walking advertisement to enroll here, and get them to request yet another brand. Will UCF bend to their will too?
What do you think about this situation? Comment below and let KnightNews.com know.
