Jordan settled with Jewel-Osco and Dominick’s for an undisclosed sum last month, nearly six years after suing both grocery chains over a pair of congratulatory ads that used his name in a 2009 limited-edition issue of Sports Illustrated published to commemorate his induction into basketball’s hall of fame.
Jewel’s ad featured a pair of white-and-red sneakers with the number “23” on the tongues. It called Jordan “a shoe in” and saluted “a fellow Chicagoan who was ‘just around the corner’ for so many years.”
The Dominick’s ad went further. It used Jordan’s name and number “23” and included a $2-off coupon for a Rancher’s Reserve steak. Before that case even went to trial, a judge ruled the conglomerate that owned Dominick’s had violated the Illinois Right of Publicity Act.
Jordan won an $8.9 million verdict against Dominick’s in August. Lawyers for the defunct grocer later fumed about the result, calling the verdict “grossly excessive” in a court filing. They asked U.S. District Judge Robert Blakey to either reduce the amount Jordan could collect or order a new trial.
The settlement announced in November ultimately resolved both the Dominick’s case, as well as the Jewel matter, which had been set for trial this month.
Jordan appeared daily at Chicago’s federal courthouse for the Dominick’s trial, and he even testified in Blakey’s downtown courtroom. Crowds waited outside the courthouse doors each day to catch a glimpse of Jordan walking to a waiting car. When the jury handed down its considerable verdict, Jordan was all smiles and promised the cash would go to charity.
“This was never about the money,” Jordan said.
However, that trial opened a rare window into the lucrative business of being Michael Jordan. His lawyer compared him to the “Hope Diamond,” and his business advisers said they decided early in his career to bundle deals for the use of his identity in long-term contracts worth $10 million or more.
Even in retirement, Jordan’s endorsement income rose from $28 million in 2004 to $75.5 million in 2012, one sports economist testified.
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