LeBron James Signs Unprecedented Lifetime Contract with Nike

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-07/lebron-james-signs-unprecedented-lifetime-contract-with-nike

by adventured • 11 years ago

53 34 11 years ago

ps4fanboy• 11 years ago

That is a lot of sneakers.

danso• 11 years ago

His lifetime deal with Nike could eventually become something similar to Michael Jordan’s. Jordan, 52, is officially the chief executive officer of the Jordan Brand, which continues to release new shoes. Sales of Air Jordan brand shoes topped $2.6 billion last year, according to Forbes.

I had to read that last figure twice...the first time, I thought it meant $2.6 billion total, which seems like a reasonable amount of revenue for one line of shoes...but _per year_? Named for an athlete who has long been retired? Half a billion for the next great player (though of course some don't think LeBron will necessarily surpass Jordan's legend) seems like a bargain for Nike.

joelrunyon3• 11 years ago

I think you have to compare the "brand" of Jordan vs. Lebron. Jordan has had almost 30 years to mature. Lebron is not even half that.

Interesting to see how this compares & will play out compared to other deals (Under Armour has equity deals with Brady / Curry) which insinuates longer term deals - even if it's not explicit.

thaumasiotes• 11 years ago

Jordan has had almost 30 years to mature. Lebron is not even half that.

This is a reasonable thing to say, but celebrity branding doesn't necessarily get better with time, and I think is actually particularly unlikely to do so compared to other forms of branding.

adventured• 11 years ago

Definitely a big number. Jordan Brand - counted separately from Nike's other lines - captured 58% of all basketball shoe sales in the US in 2014 (in dollar terms). Keep in mind there are dozens of Jordan Brand shoes now (whereas once upon a time it was one specific shoe, the Air Jordan), with other major players endorsing under the label (such as Carmelo Anthony).

It's apparently also booming in China:

http://fortune.com/2015/10/23/nike-air-jordans-china/

brandonmenc• 11 years ago

for one line of shoes

There are at least a few new Jordan sneakers released every single week.

http://sneakernews.com/air-jordan-release-dates/

justinator• 11 years ago

This is amazing, they're just shoes named, "Air Jordan". some of them are just reissues of shoes that came out when I was in middle school.

thezilch• 11 years ago

The resale market alone is profiting $380M per year on Nike shoes. I'd wager a majority of that is in Jordans. Nike knows this market exists, and they are doing a fine job keeping the streets hungry for their brands. Watch / read more at https://www.ted.com/talks/josh_luber_the_secret_sneaker_mark...

nhebb• 11 years ago

Hands down, Air Jordan is the best logo ever created. Designers might not think so, but people bought $2.6 million worth of products last year just because of it. It's hard to beat that.

zyxley• 11 years ago

Incidentally, the logo is called "Jumpman", and it's actually based on Jordan doing a ballet grand jeté to make it look like a more prodigious jump than his usual style.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpman_(logo)

racl101• 11 years ago

Agreed. Air Jordans have consistently been popular and the Jumpman 23 Logo is iconic. I still remember being in elementary and marvelling at rich kid's Jordan (version 1) or just (1) high tops.

Jordan may be retired but his product line is thriving. It's a beast onto itself.

And yes, I know the shoes aren't necessarily inherently better than a cheap pair of sneakers but, hey, it's a cool shoe that can't be beat. I don't know how you quantify cool but those shoes are cool.

3stripe• 11 years ago

Swap 'logo' for 'brand' in that sentence and you'd be more on track. Without the personal brand of Jordan, the logo is moot.

qq66• 11 years ago

Jordan's legend isn't due just to his prodigious basketball skills, but also his meticulous approach to personal branding over his career. I remember reading an article about 15 years ago where he talked about how he wore a suit to walk from his hotel room to the team bus, a walk through the lobby of a few feet, because fans had come to see him and he wanted to leave a good impression.

paganel• 11 years ago

Named for an athlete who has long been retired?

For what it's worth, Drake is wearing an Air Jordan t-shirt in latest music video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-4Mc), which has already reached 180+ million views since the end of October. I'm in my middle 30s so I've only heard about Drake at the start of this year, but he seems to be quite influential among younger people. He's also wearing one of those Moncler things, the video reminded me of the famous "They Live" sunglasses scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inZUDMGJsKo).

pbreit• 11 years ago

I'm as impressed or more with Under Armour snagging Bryce Harper, Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Jordan Spieth (arguably the top players in their sports currently).

joelrunyon3• 11 years ago

And David Beckham.

All of which have equity stakes in the brand as well.

mrjaeger• 11 years ago

Mike Trout would like to have a word with you, but Bryce Harper is by no means a bad get,

rjvir• 11 years ago

At likely much better contracts than their competitors have for their marquee athletes.

swyman• 11 years ago

They tend to include equity as well[1], which is probably the only way they can compete with Nike for signatures.

[1] http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13672569/stephen-curry-ext...

evanriley• 11 years ago

As well as Cam Newton.

magic_man• 11 years ago

Lebron sells more shoes than all those guys combined.

sharkweek• 11 years ago

I dunno, Brady's Ugg game might have him topped... (kidding)

keyle• 11 years ago

Hacker, news?

bibimbap1977• 11 years ago

First of all how is this a hacker news? Second I've seen these shoes and I'm no basketball buff but wtf?! Lebron nike shoes are so "UGLY or SUPER UGLY" they're in no where near the cool designs of those Air Jordan shoes. That Under Armour branded shoes those are cool. Peace out!

Animats• 11 years ago

Ah, Nike. The company with worse fanboys than Apple.

Nike managed to conceal the fact that Air Jordans were inflated with sulfur hexafluoride, not air. They needed a big molecule that wouldn't slowly leak through the bladder. It took them 14 years to come up with a bladder lining that would hold nitrogen.

voltagex_• 11 years ago

Might be better to cite sources with incendiary comments like this: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2006-09-24/nike-goes-for...

No idea if they tried to "conceal" that though. Seems to be around the same time CFCs were used in refrigeration.

zerocrat• 11 years ago

For people thinking this not hacker news related. I thought so too, but according to the guidelines it is.

Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.

Thanks for sharing OP.

mifreewil2• 11 years ago

How can hackers profit from endorsement deals like this? If any software or hardware marketers are interested, please get in touch.

mifreewil2• 11 years ago

Seriously? no sense of humor...

daxfohl• 11 years ago

"Air" Jordans will make me jump higher and win championships. "Something" LeBron's will make me sound like a Buick.

jinst8gmi• 11 years ago

Am I the only one who has never heard of him?

VeejayRampay• 11 years ago

Hasn't Derrick Rose signed a lifetime contract with Adidas a few years back?

LeBron James Signs Unprecedented Lifetime Contract with Nike

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