Stakesarehigh
One day it will all make sense
Converse and Adidas both told him that they didn't have the budget to give him his own shoe line. He had gone to them first.
Converse said they already had all of these other stars (Bird, etc.)
Nike also said they hoped to sell $3 M in shoes over 4 years.
They sold $126 M in the first year.
Nike underestimated Jordan too.
I'll rewatch the segment to confirm what the reasons were for Converse and Adidas declining him.
So I'm not sure if Adidas and Converse would have been the alternate Nike, because they didn't want to give Jordan his own shoe line. They only wanted to promote him in groups, and have regular basketball shoes.
Adidas had done well giving other non basketball stars their own shoe line. But again, they decided they didn't have room for Michael.
I am not sure that basketball was more popular than tennis in 1984. The NBA Playoffs were on tape delay through 1986.
Meanwhile, John McEnroe was big in the 1980s, as was Chris Evert. American tennis was successful in the 80s through some point in the 90s.
There were also less TV options available than now, and tennis wasn't competing with so many choices now.
I don't know how to tell what sports were popular for a particular year or decade in the 80s.
I just don't know if basketball was as popular until after Jordan's first few years in the league.
Jordan is not the reason the NBA gained in popularity
That was Bird/Magic and it's not even a debate.