Tag: David Falk

In what would have been a wild twist …

The Dallas Mavericks owner told Dallas’ …

The Dallas Mavericks owner told Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday (h/t @ Mike Fisher) that he tried to talk Jordan and his agent David Falk out of signing with the Wizards in 2001. He had just bought his majority stake of the Mavericks a year prior. “The day he signed with the Washington Wizards to come back, David Falk — that’s right when I was buying the Mavs — said ‘why don’t you go meet him?’” Cuban said. “So I went to David Falk’s office and all the papers were right there. And I was trying to convince MJ to not sign them and to do something with the Mavs.”

Meanwhile, O.J. Simpson, who was a …

Meanwhile, O.J. Simpson, who was a spokesman for Spot-Bilt, a casual shoe brand, vouched for Jordan and insisted the brand match Nike’s offer to lure him into signing with the company. “The Last Dance” executive director Jason Hehir told the story to “Jalen & Jacoby,” explaining how Michael Jordan nearly signed with an otherwise long-forgotten company: “Spot-Bilt, you remember them?” asked Hehir in a recent interview. “They matched [Nike’s] offer. Michael Jordan came this close to being with Spot-Bilt because the spokesman at the time was another athlete who had broken, transcended some racial bounds, it’s a guy by the name of O.J. Simpson. “He said to the guys at Spot-Bilt: ‘The kid out of Carolina is the next me. Go get him.’ So they matched Nike’s offer, but they couldn’t match the marketing. They couldn’t promise [agent] David Falk that they could market Michael the way that Nike would. And that ultimately is what put that deal over the top, financially, for them.”

After Converse told Jordan that it had …

After Converse told Jordan that it had too many big-name players — including Magic Johnson and Larry Bird — to make Jordan a front man for the company, the choice came down to Adidas or Nike. Adidas wasn’t willing to give Jordan his own shoe, but Nike was. There was just one problem: Jordan didn’t want to meet with the shoe company to discuss it. “I couldn’t even get him to get on the damn plane and go visit the campus,” Jordan’s agent, David Falk, said.

Jordan became a pitchman unlike any …

Jordan became a pitchman unlike any other before him, and to some degree, it turns out that was the plan all along. Agent David Falk explains in Episode 5 how he wanted to treat Jordan like a boxer or tennis player – an individual star – instead of how stars in team sports were typically marketed. But Nike, the company that landed Jordan, never would’ve gotten a meeting if it weren’t for MJ’s mom, who convinced him to take the meeting. “I go into that meeting not wanting to be there,” Jordan says in Episode 5. “Nike made this big pitch. And Falk was like, ‘You gotta be a fool if you’re not taking this deal. This is the best deal.’”

Michael Jordan reportedly once turned down a $100 million appearance fee

Imagine being this rich.

Michael Jordan is rich, fam. So rich, in fact, that this man turned down a $100 million appearance fee to show up at an event. Why? Simply because he did not feel like showing up, according to agent David Falk.

Falk jumped on WFAN’s “Boomer and Gio” on Thursday to talk about ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries and the legend that Jordan has become. While on the show, he started talking about deals Jordan passed up in his career.

And it just so happened that, three years ago, he reportedly passed up an appearance that would’ve netted him a cool $100 million. No big deal. Just, uh, LIFE CHANGING money on the table here. No sweat.

Here’s how it went down.

“I brought him a deal three years ago for $100 million. All he had to do was, other than giving his name and likeness, make a one two-hour appearance to announce the deal and he turned it down. God bless him. He’s been so successful, it gives him an opportunity to do whatever the hell he wants or not to do things he doesn’t want. I really admire that. He’s very, very selective in the things he wants to be involved in.”

This must be life when you’re worth $2.1 billion. I cannot ever imagine being in position to turn down $100 million for  almost anything. But $100 million literally just to show up at the function? That’s easy money!

But, then again, most of those folks aren’t billionaires. And most of those billionaires aren’t Michael Jordan. So there’s that.

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When former Oakland A’s general manager …

When former Oakland A’s general manager Sandy Alderson was asked by ESPN’s Buster Olney on Tuesday’s “Baseball Tonight” podcast about a deal that came close to being completed in his career that the media never really found out about, he dropped a significant, and timely, bombshell. “If you recall when Jordan stopped playing basketball and decided to try baseball and ultimately went down the Birmingham Barons — the Chicago White Sox affiliate,” said Anderson, 71. “When I heard that was happening — or about to happen — I called the agent right away and said, ‘Hey look, I understand he may be going to Double-A. I don’t even know who the 25th man is on our major league team right now. I will sign him and put him on the major league roster. He’ll be part of our 25-man team. Tomorrow.”

Alderson, who is now a senior adviser …

Alderson, who is now a senior adviser with the A’s and has spent about 40 years in baseball, went on to say that he was “totally serious” and Jordan’s agent, David Falk, “hemmed and hawed.” Alderson said somebody ultimately accused him of tampering. “It ended up creating some discussion because I ended up getting a phone call or a message from the White Sox saying, ‘Hey what is going on here? This guy is going to be part of the White Sox organization,’ ” Alderson said.