Copago
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Reged: May 15 2001
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<a rel=nofollow href="http://www.newser.com/story/72336/michael-jordans-son-could-cost-college-3m.html" target="_blank">http://www.newser.com/story/72336/michael-jordans-son-could-cost-college-3m.html</a>
Quote:
(Newser) – Michael Jordan’s son wants to wear the shoes his dad made famous when he plays college basketball this season—but if he does, he could wind up costing the University of Central Florida $3 million. Marcus Jordan insists on wearing Nike Air Jordans, but UCF has a deal with adidas. Athletic department officials “said they had talked to the adidas people,” Jordan, a freshman, tells the Orlando Sentinel.
Adidas and UCF are in the final year of a 6-year deal that calls for the company to supply athletic apparel free or at a discount. A new agreement is in the works that would make all the gear for the school's 15 teams free—all $3 million worth. Nike has no plans to step in, and the school is treading lightly. "We made adidas aware of this unique situation during contract-renewal discussions," UCF said in a statement. Says an adidas rep: “These relationships are based upon agreed deliverables for both parties.”
What's the bet that this all blows over and Jordan junior wears Daddy's shoes? Adidas will be getting more than three million dollars worth of publicity with this one story.
But the down to earth part of me wants the college to say "Wear our shoes and play - don't wear them don't play. Simple" and not pander to him. If genetics plays much part in sport then no doubt the kid is a great player but $3m great?
And as a side note: WOW at a $3 million contract for a college team!! We have professional sport teams here that would bend over backwards for a contract like that! An average college team in any sport might be lucky to get the local pub to chip in for the guernseys and to have their name on it. 
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"There's an inner thing in every man, Do you know this thing my friend?" The Rhythm Of Time.
Edited by Copago (Fri Oct 23 2009 04:17 AM)
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sue943
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I personally would also say to wear the 'uniform' or don't play. Would he also insist on wearing a different style of clothing when playing in the team?
It would be different if he was being told to purchase this other brand of shoe but if the uniform, including shoes, are given to him for free then he ought to wear them.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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lady1
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I agree: wear the uniform like everyone else or dont play. He can wear the shoes like his dads when/if he turns professional.
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sue943
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Putting a different hat on I can see reasons why he ought not wear them, the advertising prospects for Adidas would be enormous, can you imagine...
Our shoes are SO good that even Michael Jordan's son wears them!
Perhaps the easiest option would be for him not to play, or not play unless he can wear his Nikes. Whatever they decide it really isn't worth $3M unless perhaps Nike wants to step in and supply the same deal.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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lesley153
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Reged: Sep 07 2007
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Maybe Nike already have stepped in - is this the genuine wish of a loving, admiring son, or a bit of cleverly-engineered hype by Nike's PR?
Lesley in extra-cynical mode
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"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." Robert A Heinlein
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BxBarracuda
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From what I was hearing yesterday, before he chose that college over any others, there were discussions regarding whether they would let him wear the Nike sneakers or not.
Nike payed for a lot of the luxuries he had when growing up.
There is big money for the collegs themselves when it comes to athletics. The schools use any moneys, mostly from the rights to have their teams shown on T.V., and the money goes to the schools. Which are used for not only that sports team, but all the teams at the school. Including newer stadiums, practice facilities, scholarships etc and other things for the schools.
College athletes themselves are banned from accepting any money for playing their sport or any sort of freebies from the schools or boosters. As well as they are not allowed to have a professional agent.
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Schoonie101
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He can always wear Nikes and throw an Adidas logo on them. As long as the colors match, well, that's one option.  Seriously, though, raising this stink AFTER he signed his letter of intent is bush league. There are plenty of schools that Nike sponsors. This smells.
BX, funny you mention the aspect of getting paid and the ensuing NCAA violations. No offense meant to UCF at all but it is not a basketball powerhouse. Either Jordan's son is not close to the baller his father was (who is?) and he should be happy to play anywhere that will take him or he is getting paid under the table to attend UCF.
I'm betting on the latter. Unless there's other circumstances, I can't fathom why he'd go there for basketball. Just reading this thread, I can't help but think about OJ Mayo all but decimating the USC basketball program. It was the same deal - he can play ANYWHERE. Why USC? Everyone knew he got paid to go and as an alumnus, it stings to watch our program get all but destroyed because of Mayo. Count on serious NCAA scrutiny in this case also.
Pandora's Box has been open way too long in college ball as most of these kids have been getting paid one way or another for 5+ years already. That's not going to change as soon as they enter school. Plus, with so many players skipping college to go to the pros, college ball is in serious jeopardy. You hardly ever see star players sticking around for all 4 years anymore. Sad.
However, to end this on a funny note:
How much you want to bet that these athletes take the free stuff they get via the Nike Sponsorship and sell most of it for cash? What's the difference between that and getting paid again?
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
Edited by Schoonie101 (Sun Oct 25 2009 03:57 AM)
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Schoonie101
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Couldn't find this at first - my bad.
Great article regarding college basketball players getting paid from early on.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3405148
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
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sue943
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All this college sports stuff is over my head, presumably it is a culture thing again. To the best of my knowledge in the UK ability in sports isn't going to help get you into college, unless perhaps a superb rower is aiming for Oxbridge, even then I have my doubts as to whether they would be accepted if they didn't have the necessary examination grades.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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agony
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I'm with Sue, here - what on earth has all this to do with getting an education?
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Schoonie101
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I wish I could answer that question. I think the priorities in this country as far as education are WAY out of whack. The academic standards are much lower for incoming athletes than they are for normal students. However, this is because these athletes bring in huge amounts of money for the school. Yes, they do get a scholarship but the school really reaps the benefits. I think, though, in the cases we are talking about, this is really more focused on football and basketball. Sports like soccer, volleyball, water polo, etc., are not nearly as cutthroat and I don't think you see as much as scandal simply because there isn't as much money being thrown around.
Actually, it's not just college. It starts out in elementary school with all the club teams (outside of school sports) and whatnot. Locally where I am at, a relatively recent beef was that the club sports teams were banning the kids from participating in sports at their high school. Ridiculous when you consider the wee percentage of kids who will become successful professional athletes. .000001%? Maybe.
Maybe it's just me. I never really liked organized sports. I am very actively athletic but I have never liked practice, coaches yelling at me, refs blowing whistles, all that. That really takes away from the enjoyment of everything. Probably also why a lot of friends who were relentlessly pushed by their parents into blowing every weekday afternoon and weekend for whatever sport it was were completely burned out by 9th grade.
Oh, back to the question that Sue had: It has nothing to do with getting an education. Absolutely nothing.
Messed up, huh?
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
Edited by Schoonie101 (Sun Oct 25 2009 03:31 PM)
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BxBarracuda
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More then 90 % of college athletes don't go onto becoming professional athletes. Many of them are on scholarship and most are in college to get an education. Even some of the elite athletes do use college the right way. Those 90 % rarely make the news.
All sports at a college, as well as academic departments, benefit from any money made by the bigger sports teams.
Many of the schools have high level training facilities and some Olympic athletes from countries who don't have such advanced training facilities go to colleges in the U.S. as student athletes.
I agree Schoonie UCF is an odd choice.
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Schoonie101
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Right, that's why I singled out football and basketball. That's where all this controversy stems from and where you see athletes using the university more as a farm program than as a means for education.
True about the Olympics. I think USC has had a gold medal winner in every Olympics since the early 1900s. Pretty cool.
Yeah, why UCF? 
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
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ladymacb29
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Reged: Mar 15 2000
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Quote:
All sports at a college, as well as academic departments, benefit from any money made by the bigger sports teams.
At my school, it went the other day. While I was attending a state school as an undergrad, my school went to a higher division (I-A). So what happened? The stadium we'd built for the World University Games (which is like right below the Olympics) wasn't big enough! So they added these huge, ugly bleachers in either end zone. Then, the library wasn't being given money for new books or materials - they were even canceling all of their magazine/periodical subscriptions. My poli sci department was cut to one-third of its size...
All the while the number and amount of scholarships went up for the athletes.
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BxBarracuda
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Has the sports team that went Division 1-A done well since the intial investment to upgrade the stadium?
I hope the school administators decision to upgrade the stadium has had future benefits. Looks like they took a big risk in this case.
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missmuumuu
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Shame on UCF (my alma mater) for telling this kid he could wear different shoes than the rest of the team.
Shame on Marcus Jordan for asking.
Shame on Michael Jordan for letting him.
UCF has come up in the world since I was there (I graduated in 1985), but I think it is still small enough to be dazzled by the prospect of a superstar's child matriculating there and playing the same sport as his famous father. I'm sure they got ahead of themselves and imagined all kinds of reflected glory and opportunities ($$). It's embarrassing to see 
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Michael Jordan put his famous Nike- clad foot down and said "Son, get with the program and do what your coach tells you to do"? Or better yet, "UCF, I'll pay my son's tuition, please give the scholarship money to a deserving student who wouldn't otherwise be able to attend a university"?
Sigh. I paid my own way through UCF by working at Disney World. I guess I still have too many fairytales in my head!
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ladymacb29
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Quote:
Has the sports team that went Division 1-A done well since the intial investment to upgrade the stadium?
I hope the school administators decision to upgrade the stadium has had future benefits. Looks like they took a big risk in this case.
Nope - they still are losing.
To upgrade the stadium did nothing, in my opinion - it was already new (less than 10 years old) and all they did was add these big metal bleachers so the students couldn't sit in the normal areas. They still don't get anywhere near a maximum capacity crowd...
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"Without the darkness, how would we see the light?" ~ Tuvok
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Schoonie101
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"Wouldn't it be wonderful if Michael Jordan put his famous Nike- clad foot down and said "Son, get with the program and do what your coach tells you to do"? Or better yet, "UCF, I'll pay my son's tuition, please give the scholarship money to a deserving student who wouldn't otherwise be able to attend a university"?"
Very well said, all of it.
Considering Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame acceptance speech, well, class is not anything I expect from that family. And an excellent point, what the heck is Jordan doing taking a scholarship away from someone who needs it a whole lot more?
That being said, it'll be interesting to see if the kid can play.
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
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Schoonie101
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Quote:
Quote:
Has the sports team that went Division 1-A done well since the intial investment to upgrade the stadium?
I hope the school administators decision to upgrade the stadium has had future benefits. Looks like they took a big risk in this case.
Nope - they still are losing.
To upgrade the stadium did nothing, in my opinion - it was already new (less than 10 years old) and all they did was add these big metal bleachers so the students couldn't sit in the normal areas. They still don't get anywhere near a maximum capacity crowd...
Stinks. Sorry to hear that. It's lousy to see that happen when you know the money could be so much better spent in other areas of the university. I donate to my alma mater every year but I specifically earmark my donation to the Geology Department so it doesn't go into the black holes of general Letters, Arts, and Sciences or into the overall athletic program. I'd prefer my money not be spent on OJ Mayo's Vegas trip.
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
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BxBarracuda
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Even teams that don't do well can make money for the school. Many of the big name schools will put the smaller schools in the area on their schedules, and each school splits any Media money made. Anytime the games get televised for the school, money is made for the school. The media money is where most benefits for division 1 - A, or any, schools comes from.
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BxBarracuda
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It is official, Adidas has canceled their relationship with Central Florida, due to Marcus Jordan wearing Nike sneakers during an exhibition game.
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=cincinnati&sParam=36721900.story
There has to be more to this story, Adidas must have informed Central Florida before the game what would happen. The coach then put Marcus on the court wearing the Nike sneakers. Anyone want to take odds that Nike sponsors that team in the near future?
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shuehorn
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That's what it sounds like to me. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it weren't a publicity stunt from the get-go.
Sue
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Sue (shuehorn)
Edited by shuehorn (Sat Nov 07 2009 12:48 PM)
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martin_cube
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In my opinion this is a large part of what's wrong with the world today. $3m for wearing one brand of shoes rather than another? Utter madness! How much good could be done with an amount like that? Maybe not much but it would be better than nothing.
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agony
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Reged: Mar 29 2003
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"We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics,"
What nonsense. How about "Since we chose not to honour our contract, Adidas has quite properly considered itself free of further obligation to us"? And these are the people we allow to educate our children. No wonder they don't understand why cheating on exams is frowned on.
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Schoonie101
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Reged: Jun 24 2007
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Quote:
"We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics,"
What nonsense. How about "Since we chose not to honour our contract, Adidas has quite properly considered itself free of further obligation to us"? And these are the people we allow to educate our children. No wonder they don't understand why cheating on exams is frowned on.
Sounds like Former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan has been keeping busy as PR director at UCF. Great twisting around of the situation! 
The corporate sponsorship of schools is ridiculous, though. Shoot, just the over-corporatization of EVERYTHING. Feudalism is taking over again. Corporate logos instead of shield designs. McDonalds instead of gruel (gruel is probably more nutritious), etc. etc. Sometimes I think the Islamic hardliners might have a valid point in terms of preventing Westernization from infiltrating their respective countries. Not the most endearing of methods, though...
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"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
- William Blake
Edited by Schoonie101 (Mon Nov 09 2009 09:13 PM)
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