Air Jordan and the death of sport

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

"I never really envisioned myself having any kind of major impact on people. Even now, when I see kids wearing my shoes, it's kind of wild. Sometimes I still feel shocked." Michael Jordan as quoted in Fortune.

Yeah.

Two weeks ago the financial magazine quantified Jordan's economic impact to be $10 billion since he went pro 14 years ago. His worth alone for Nike Inc., the shoe company he endorses, checked in at $5.2 billion. That's a lot of cash for one man to generate.

The guy's done a lot of good for people. After all, according to Fortune, the average NBA salary has risen from just over $1 million for the 1983-84 season to $2.6 million this season. Guess who started his career in 1984?

Jordan has helped the NBA rake in more than $3.1 billion dollars in licensing fees, ticket sales and broadcast revenue since then. And Michael hasn't just been helping the NBA middle class, he's been supporting job growth all over the world. All those 12-year-old girls in Southeast Asia have one man to thank for their gainful employment.

In response to the continuing controversy over its labor practices, on May 12 Nike CEO Phil Knight announced company labor reforms that say people are supposed to reach 16 before working in a Nike clothing factory and 18 before hitting the shoe factory.

"There are too many workers, too many interactions daily; and in Vietnam, too much tension based on nationality to avoid any incidents," Knight said in announcing the reforms, essentially acknowledging the Students Against Sweatshops horror stories are business as usual.

Jordan has have come off his previous "it's none of my business" position, and is even planning to tour the factories himself this summer, but he himself admitted in a Sporting News article in late December that part of the reason he would part with Nike is that he doesn't want "a negative" hanging over his head as he embarks on his own business career.

So who cares? What does this have to do with sports, with basketball, with the NBA Finals? We're just watching the game. We're just tuning in to see slam dunks. But there is more than that. Nike alone spends $750 million a year putting Michael and Tiger and Kevin Garnett and everybody else on TV, in magazines and on billboards. They're offering the UA nearly $10 million just to put the swoosh on our uniforms. In a media world, business and sports are inescapably linked to the detriment of athletics. The world today is a different one than Michael Jordan walked into 14 years ago. It's changed, much the same way basketball has changed: the days of team play, of great passes and jumpers, are all but gone in favor of the super-star system of the MJ-era NBA.

Michael has helped put the 'I' in team.

When amateur athletes are playing for shoes and spending $150 a pair while the wages they're likely to earn fall against inflation every year, our consumer society faces the problem that our "it's just a game" attitude ignores. America's youth is being sold on the backs of kids the same age who had the misfortune to be born in a less developed country.

See, you can't say that a 16-year-old working with the chemicals that go into the shoe-making process are being paid "commensurate with their skills," as Nike's company line states.

In a media world, you can't say you're surprised to see the youth of America wearing your shoes. You can't say you haven't heard of children being shot down because of the brand they're wearing. You can't say your silence is appropriate, that you and me and Michael Jordan and Phil Knight aren't to blame for this.

You can't say it's just a game.

Tom Collins is a former Arizona Daily Wildcat editor in chief.