The NBA's Billion Dollar Man

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 12, 1999 / 6:37 PM EST / CBS

Michael Jordan has always been a money player. When he hit the shots, his sponsors hit the jackpot, reports CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason.

"Michael Jordan was the one who made fans watch and Michael Jordan was the one who made fans buy," says Dave Smith of Steiner Sports Marketing. "And everything he touched was a success for whatever company backed him."

The most publicized man in sports has sold everything from sneakers to cereal to cartoons, but most of all he's sold NBA basketball. And the game has sold him. No one moves more jerseys than Number 23.

Of course, calculating exactly what Jordan has been worth to the NBA isn't easy. But when Fortune magazine added up his impact on everything from tickets sales to TV revenues, they came up with a figure of almost $10 billion.

"One of these days, Michael Jordan is gonna retire. It is sad. But it is inevitable," NBA Commissioner David Stern said last week.

The NBA tried to plan for this day, tried to promote other players like the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal. But the shoe company Reebok recently canceled Shaq's shoe contract.

"They were looking for the Shaq Attack shoe to be the next Air Jordan. Obviously, that didn't happen," said Jim Andrews of the Endorsement Newsletter.

No one has been able to fill Jordan's shoes.

Smith says the league already scarred by a lockout has now lost the one player everyone wanted to see: "And I think it's gonna take a long time for them to recover," he says.

Michael Jordan will walk away from a $34 million contract. But the NBA is losing its billion-dollar man.