Ben Affleck to star in new Michael Jordan documentary AIR Ben Affleck to portray Nike founder Phil Knight in new film Air , a drama tracing the origins Michael Jordan's partnership with the company.
by Mariette Adams
31-01-2023 09:15
in Entertainment
Michael Jordan with his signature Nike shoe. Photo: Nike
Ben Affleck will portray Nike co-founder Phil Knight in a new film called Air , a sports drama that traces the origins of Michael Jordan's highly successful partnership with the shoe company.
--
The film centers on the story of Sonny Vaccaro, portrayed by Matt Damon, the man who worked to sign Jordan to a deal to sport the company's shoes. The deal was eventually signed in 1984 while Jordan was a rookie with the Chicago Bulls.
The show will be based on the true story of how Vaccaro, a salesman for Nike in the 1980s, worked tirelessly to convince MJ to sign with the Swoosh. It's well documented that MJ, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, almost went with a different brand, but this dramatisation will hopefully set the story straight. Affleck will take on writing, directing, starring, and production duties.
Air is being made possible by a deal between Amazon Studios and Skydance Sports, who are finalising their agreement. Mandalay Pictures will also be involved with production. Skydance Sports president Jon Weinbach and Mandalay Pictures chairman Peter Guber previously were involved with production of The Last Dance, sports documentary miniseries depicting Jordan's career.
--
The release date of the film has been set for 15 April.
ALSO READ: Top 10 best-selling sneakers of 2022
THE JORDAN x NIKE STORY: As reported by SportsKeeda.com, in this deep-dive into the Nike-Jordan partnership, MJ signed a deal with Nike during his NBA rookie season in 1984. At the time, Adidas and Converse were on top of the sneaker chain. Prior to Jordan's partnership with Nike, it seemed like he was going to sign with Adidas. Nike, however, offered the rookie a more lucrative offer, worth $500,000 per year, that MJ couldn't turn down.
--
Nike Air Jordan made its debut in late 1984 when MJ wore his signature shoes for the first time. Jordan wearing the pair in-game was controversial. The league had a rule that allowed players to only wear white sneakers regardless of brand.
The Air Jordans had a red, black and white colorway representing the Chicago Bulls' colors. Because of that, every time Jordan wore those shoes, he was fined $5,000. It didn't matter though as Nike was willing to shoulder all the expenses just so MJ could promote his shoes.
MJ was able to stir up enough hype before the Air Jordans officially launched in retail stores. Nike's Air Jordans was released in 1985 and exceeded predictions in sales. In the first year alone, Air Jordans sold for $126 million. These shoes are what put Nike on the map.
Jordan went on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. His shoeline expanded and has gone on to arguably become the greatest sneaker line of all time. According to Centuro Global, as of 2020, MJ has made $1.3 billion from his Nike deal.
ALSO READ: Top 10 most expensive sneakers: Be prepared to be SHOCKED!
MJ's game worn Air Jordans. Photo: Nike.
SOAPIE QUIZ: How well do you know Uzalo'? WIN R1 000 in cash! ENTER HERE
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
Ben Affleck to star in new Michael Jordan documentary AIR Ben Affleck to portray Nike founder Phil Knight in new film Air , a drama tracing the origins Michael Jordan's partnership with the company.
