Why did Yao Ming reject Nike’s $120 million sneaker contract?
Yao Ming is the greatest basketball player in China and even Asia. He has shown extraordinary physical talent since he was a child. He reached 1.47 meters when he was 7 years old. In 1993, when Yao Ming entered the sports school for professional training, he was only a little over 13 years old and had already grown to 1.96 meters.
In 1996, 16-year-old Yao Ming entered the Shanghai Oriental Youth Team. At this time, he had reached a height of 2.10 meters and encountered a big problem, that is, he did not have suitable sneakers. At that time, whether this problem was Neither Shanghai Oriental Team nor domestic manufacturers can help solve the problem! Fortunately or helplessly, Yao Ming's mother Fang Fengdi could only find Zheng Haixia, her teammate in the national team, to borrow shoes for help, so that Yao Ming could have suitable sneakers to participate in the game.
Also in 1996, the Shanghai Oriental Basketball Club was jointly established by the Shanghai Institute of Sports Technology and Shanghai Oriental TV to participate in the National League A. Nike, as the team sponsor, specially held a reception to invite club players and employees And youth team players came to celebrate, so Yao Ming and Nike had an intersection. Nike's head of sponsorship business in China met Yao Ming, and he was immediately shocked. With the intuition gained from dealing with basketball superstars for many years, he determined that Yao Ming would definitely be in the future. Become a great tool! It will even have a huge impact on Chinese basketball and even Asian basketball! Especially when we learned that Yao Ming did not have suitable boots for competition, we immediately decided to provide them to him for free! After the cocktail party, the supervisor reported the situation to the headquarters, and Nike headquarters immediately sent a pair of Alonzo Mourning shoes based on Yao Ming's foot size. Yao Ming also became the only player at that time who was not the main player of the team but could enjoy sneakers provided by sneaker sponsors!
Afterwards, in 1997, Yao Ming was invited by Nike to participate in the Nike Basketball Summer Camp held in Paris, France. In 1998, Yao Ming participated in the Nike American High School League and defeated the then high school star player Tyson Chandler in the game, shocking the entire American basketball world! After realizing the value of Yao Ming, Nike quickly signed a contract with Yao Ming in 1999. Yao Ming, who was not yet 19 years old, became the spokesperson of Nike. The endorsement fee was worth US$200,000 in four years!
200,000 US dollars may seem inconspicuous today, but at the time the CBA was a sky-high contract, even much higher than the salary given to Yao Ming by the Shanghai team. To be honest, the money from Nike at that time was very helpful to Yao Ming's career, and Yao Ming has expressed his gratitude many times since then.
In 2002, Yao Ming successfully entered the NBA relying on his extraordinary talent and hard work! Because of his status as the No. 1 pick, every move Yao Ming made after entering the league attracted much attention, and Yao Ming only had such an endorsement contract. It can be said that if Nike had done it right at that time, it would definitely make him soar again economically. Nike did provide Yao Ming customized his signature sneakers, with his last name and jersey number YAO11 LOGO printed on the tongue of the sneakers! However, due to the position on the field, many Nike executives doubted whether Yao Ming's sneakers could be sold. At the same time, they are also worried about whether Yao Ming will choose to renew his contract after his contract expires in May 2003. So even though Yao Ming was the spokesperson for Nike at the time, there were basically no overseas advertisements.
After his rookie season, Yao Ming lost to the Suns' Stoudemire in the Rookie of the Year competition due to team record and other factors, but he averaged 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game this season. The data of 1.7 assists and 1.8 blocks are excellent enough! Coupled with the Chinese market with 1.3 billion people behind it, it stands to reason that after the first endorsement contract between Yao Ming and Nike expired in 2003, Nike should come up with a high-value renewal contract that is consistent with Yao Ming's status, but Surprisingly, Nike only offered Yao Ming a four-year, $1.6 million offer. You must know that this offer was not only far lower than the $90 million contract of James, the No. 1 pick in 2003, who had not played a single NBA game at the time, but even It's far inferior to Jordan's $2.5 million contract 20 years ago.
At this time, knowing that Yao Ming’s contract with Nike had expired, Reebok and Adidas also joined the battle for Yao Ming. Especially Reebok, as the sponsor of the Rockets at the time, took advantage of Yao Ming’s popularity and influence. Power, you can make a lot of money in the Chinese market just by selling jerseys! And at that time, Reebok achieved great success in the sneaker market after signing Iverson and Francis one after another! They also hope to sign Yao Ming to further stir up the storm in the sneaker market! Therefore, Reebok very sincerely gave a huge contract of 50 million US dollars for 7 years.
We all know that Yao Ming is a person who cares about the past and his feelings, even though Nike made an "insulting" offer! Even Reebok offered a huge contract! Yao Ming was still very grateful to Nike for helping him when he was in trouble, so he and his agent decided to give Nike a chance to try to communicate and made an offer of US$1-5 million per year! But the person in charge of Nike sneered and said to Yao Ming: Are you kidding me?
Obviously, this sentence directly angered Yao Ming, and he decided to part ways with Nike! Reebok once again showed its sincerity at this time. They went to Harbin with the contract and found Yao Ming, who was participating in the Men's Basketball Asian Championships. They also added more money to the original contract: within the contract period with Reebok, Yao Ming Appear in the All-Star Game at least 3 times. From now on, Yao Ming's contract will become a lifetime contract like Iverson's. Yao Ming decided to leave Nike and sign with Reebok!
Although after learning about Yao Ming’s decision to sign with Reebok, Nike made a desperate move and offered a total of US$120 million over seven years, but it was too late! Yao Ming no longer considered Nike's insistence on signing with Reebok and said something very impressive: "You can give me less money, but you have to be honest with me. This is not about money.
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