Michael Vick Re-Signs With Nike

(AP)  Michael Vick is back with Nike two years after the company severed ties over the quarterback's involvement in a dogfighting ring.

"Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship," his agent, Joel Segal, said Wednesday.

Segal would not reveal terms of the agreement. Nike declined a request for comment.

The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick.

The endorsement is the latest step forward for Vick as he seeks to rehabilitate his career and his image after serving 18 months in federal prison. On Sunday, Vick played his first regular-season game since December 2006.

"It is quite evident that athletes that run afoul of the law are by no means relegated to obscurity when it comes to pitching products," said David Carter, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Southern California.

Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 13. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave him his full reinstatement Sept. 3, saying he could return to the field in Week 3.

Vick participated in 11 plays, accounting for 30 total yards, in the Eagles' 34-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, as Philadelphia tries to use him in a variety of ways as a backup.

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after the Atlanta Falcons star filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in the dogfighting ring. At the time, Nike called cruelty to animals "inhumane, abhorrent and unacceptable" and halted release of his fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V.

Back when Vick first signed with the Eagles, Carter had said he was "too toxic for most companies to even consider taking a chance on him." What's changed? As Carter noted Wednesday, there has been little backlash to the quarterback's return to the NFL.

Protests have been limited, and the Eagles' sponsors have stood by them. That experience could make companies less wary about adding Vick as an endorser, though the biggest determinant might be no different from any other athlete: how well he performs on the field.

Retailer Dick's Sporting Goods said earlier this month that it wasn't carrying Vick's Eagles jersey in any of its 300 stores as a business decision.

But Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at University of Oregon, isn't surprised that Nike re-established its relationship with Vick.

"Nike has a history of supporting athletes. I think they are supporting an athlete who still garners attention," Swangard said. "This is about Michael Vick as the athlete not Michael Vick the prisoner. ... When he is inside the lines of the field he is an exciting football player and that's what a brand like Nike can tap into."

Vick signed a $1.6 million deal with the Eagles, with a team option for the second year at $5.2 million. He was once a corporate star - holding multimillion dollar deals to market everything from sneakers to sports drinks. But those millions are long gone.

In July, Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving his sentence, saying he owed between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

To Carter, Nike likely made a calculated business decision that the benefit of sales tied to Vick outweighed any potential public outrage.

Vick must still have some selling power if the company is getting behind him, he said. "Nobody understands their consumer and has their finger on the pulse of their consumer like Nike does."

[met_man]

most off you all are idiots. about halfway through the comments someone put up that its all false and there is no deal. why are you all still complaining about nike. you must really think your measly $100 missing from nikes billion dollor business is gonna hurt. they wont even notice. vick paid his dept to society and is doing all he can to regain the trust of american. its a holes like this site that keep ********.

[Glork]

My kids will go with the no-name sports stuff and we'll donate our NIke gear to the nupcoming rummage sale. It's a shame that these Nike executives didn't have parents who taught them that there are some things that money cannot buy, and those are the best things to own up to.

[micheleisfree]

I will be boycotting Nike.

[heresmy2cent]

Vick will suffer the same fate as Martha Stewart. Another convict that mistakenly thinks the public will love them no matter what they do (or are convicted of).

Nike executives must be insane to use this piece of garbage as a sponsor. Nike will lose money over this foolish decision.

[pubsrtoast]

Since they pay their Vietnamese slave labor $59 a month to assemble their shoddy product, they can afford someone like Vick to hock their $100 plus tennis shoes to the unemployed American worker they left behind.

[SocietysNightmare]

American Capitalism. This is not new, or exclusive to NIKE. Welcome to reality.

[SocietysNightmare]

oops ..... "Now you're upset"

[SocietysNightmare]

Here we go again with the noise about Michael Vick. I doubt very seriously if NIKE will suffer a loss for their decision. After all, most who of you objecting in this post are NOT the demographic NIKE targets. It's time to move on. The crime Vick committed was distasteful to many ..... we get it. But he has already served his time and he has already lost so much. Now your upset because he stands to regain what he lost? The word petty comes to mind. How many of you sabre rattlers ever did anything for a stray?

[EileenMc13]

I will not be purchasing any thing more from Nike. Instead of using Vick, they should be donating to Animal Cruelty. Disgusting!

[ramos1129]

Nike later came out with a press release stating that they had not resigned Vick. What they had done was to supply product to Vick and many other pro jocks as good will. Vick's agents now have egg on their faces. Vick should fire the lot of them. BTW, Vick, aside from wearing Nike's free shoes, played no role in this mess.

[FrankieRuffie]

Even though my home town, Memphis, plays a huge part in the making of Nike sports products, I have lost all respect for them. This is unacceptable and will damage the reputation of Nike for many years to come. It shows the lack of respect they have for animals just as Michael Vick by re-signing him after what he did.