Monday, May 6,1985
Daily Nebraskan
Page 19
f
Nike basketball-shoe sales soar
with red and black Air Jordans
- i 1:1,. . ......i.i: n
Air Jordan sounds like a new airline
and in one way it is. Air Jordan can't get
you from New York to Los Angeles in
three hours, but it can get you up and
down a basketball court in a style.
Air Jordan is a new line of shoes and
clothing Nike introduced April 1. For
those of you who have been asleep for
the last year or so, Jordan refers to
Chicago Bulls' rookie sensation Michael
Jordan.
Bob
Asmussen
The Air Jordan shoes come in several
different colors, but the main combina
tion is a bright red and black. The
National Basketball Association saw
the shoes on Jordan for a couple of
games this season then banned them.
The league rules state a team must
wear shoes of approximately the same
color. Few other Chicago players wear
red and black high tops.
Air Jordans were test-marketed in
six cities in April. The cities were New
York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit,
Los Angeles and Raleigh-Durham, North
Carolina. According to Nike public
reiauons director Chris Van Dyke, the
sales for the new line of shoes are
"phenomenal."
"We expected to sell maybe 100,000
pairs of Air Jordans a year," Van Dyke
said. "So far, after only a month on the
market, we've had sales and orders of
over l'2 million pairs of shoes. It's
really an industry-wide phenomenon."
Van Dyke said many were skeptical
of a red and black basketball shoe. But,
he said, the first month of the shoe
sales has proved them wrong.
"We like to refer to Air Jordans as
our Cabbage Patch dolls," Van Dyke
said.
In a recent Chicago Sun-Times arti
cle on the "selling" of Jordan, his con
tract with Nike was estimated at more
than $700,000 a year. Jordan also re
portedly has other endorsements that
bring him another $840,000 annually.
"What it basically comes down to is
that Michael is a great kid with a lot of
charisma and a lot of talent," Chicago
Bulls' public relations director Tim
Hallam said. "He's been brought up so
well and that really shows in his per
sonality. Michael is one of the nicest
players I have ever been associated
with."
"He's really the prototype athlete
you would want to endorse your pro
duct," Van Dyke said. "Not only is he a
great athlete, but also he's a great
human being who really cares for peo
ple. He's so likable. We feel we got a
great bargain when we signed Michael
Jordan."
Jordan's impact of the shoe industry
is obvious and so is his impact on the
Chicago Bulls. The Bulls missed the
playoffs in 1983-84. With Jordan they
made the playoffs despite not having a
quality center. Without Jordan in 1983
84, the Bulls drew about 6,300 people
per game. With Jordan, the Bulls drew
just under 12,000 per game, an 83 per
cent increase.
"We've had about six calls a day
asking about the shoes since the ads
ran during the NCAA basketball tour
nament," Olympic Village manager Holly
Rathman said. "We'll get the shoes on
July 1, which is the first day they'll be
released in the Midwest."
Rathman said she thinks the $64.95
price for the shoes might drive a lot of
buyers away.
"They might see the shoes and come
in," Rathman said. "But when they find
out the cost it might turn a lot of them
away."
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C
IEZJI
'Baserunner' tabloid score
with Lincoln Softball players
By Lori Griffin
Staff Reporter
It started as a way to hit the Softball
community and lure people into a
liquor store. Now, one year later, The
Baserunner has become a part of every
Lincoln softball player's summer.
- The Baserunner was the brainstorm
of Mike Hughes, who owns Mjke's O
Street Drive-In.
"I decided that since I have never
been a player but have always been a
fan, this was a way that I could get
involved with the sport," Hughes said.
"I also was trying to think of a way to
hit the softball community and let
them know that my business was here."
The Baserunner was born when Hughes
learned the Lincoln Journal-Star would
no longer cover city recreation softball.
Last year's Baserunner followed a pro
gram form and will be expanded to
regular tabloid size this year.
"In the future we are hoping to
expand it and make it as a tabloid
supplement to the Journal-Star or some
other Lincoln newspaper," Hughes said.
"After we get it to the point that we
want it, we hope to have it inserted at
least once a week. We think that it will
benefit our paper as well as a paper
like the Journal-Star."
The staff consists of high school and
college journalists interested into going
into journalism as a career.
It's an outlet for them to start learn
ing," Hughes said. "It's an outlet for
high school and college students to
gain work experience, especially for
those interested in sports journalism."
The Baserunner is distributed at 10
softball fields. The first issue will be
available May 24.
"There are approximately 15,000 soft
ball players in the city of Lincoln who
received basically no coverage until we
started," Hughes said. "Nobody covers
anything to do with it. We can cover
what the Journal-Star can't."
Hughes' co-sponsors for The Base
runner are Anheiser-Busch, Pepsi-Cola
and Gerry's Sports Shop. .,
"We have a lot of other interested
advertisers, but we hope to gain more
than we have already," Hughes said. "It
did wonders for my business and I hope
that it can do wonders for the business
of others, too."
The world is waiting.
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