He is a brand, an icon, a legend, the name behind his own musky cologne and brand of sneakers.
Michael Jordan retired to play minor league baseball in 1993, returned to win the last three of his six National Basketball Association championships with the Chicago Bulls, then retired again in 1999. A year later, he took over as the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards, perennial doormats who won only 19 games last season.
And last week, Jordan, generally acknowledged to be the greatest basketball player ever, came out of retirement again, sold off his small piece of the Wizards and is suiting up in tank top, baggy shorts and Air Jordans for another NBA season.
Within nanoseconds of his announcement, his No. 23 Wizards road jersey was on sale at nba.com -- the first new entry in Jordan's return as the most potent individual force in sports marketing history.
But can he maintain that status, playing for a long-dreadful team, at a physical level that may not equal his old one? Can he provide the stunning return on investment made by companies like Nike, Gatorade, MCI WorldCom, Hanes, Electronic Arts, Palm, Rayovac and others that he did during the first two Jordan eras in the 1980s and 1990s?
For that matter, has the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks recalibrated the public's notions about sports heroes -- compared with the real-life acts of heroism by firefighters, police officers and medics?
"He's less of a hero, but I don't think that diminishes his appeal," said Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports & Celebrities, in Evanston, Illinois, which matches athletes and entertainers with companies seeking endorsers. "But it may mute it in the short term."
Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, marketing consultants in Greenwich, Connecticut, said the real issue was Jordan's relevance in the current sports context. "He's not a brand that ever went away; now it's trying to refurbish the brand, which has faded a bit," Trout said. "Whether you can crank up that brand to what it once was is a very big question."
For the sports drink Gatorade, a division of Quaker Oats, the question hardly needs to be answered.
It is happy with his presence -- and survived during his absence. PJ Sinopoli, a spokeswoman for Gatorade, said, "It doesn't matter if he doesn't excel as he did in the past. He's still putting it all out there. It's all about will, not just accomplishment."
Jordan's association with Gatorade yielded the "Be Like Mike" commercial campaign. His 10-year contract is in its final year, but Gatorade signed him to an extension earlier this year.
During his retirement, Gatorade signed additional athletic endorsers, like Derek Jeter of the Yankees, and the soccer star Mia Hamm, and employed Jordan in advertising that showed far less sweat.
Recently, he provided the voiceover for a spot starring Hamm and Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback.
Jordan did not disappear during his retirement; his profile in commercials had not evaporated. Last year, Williams estimated that his endorsement income totaled US$35 million, down from a career peak of US$47 million.
Peter Land, the head of sports marketing at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, said, "I'll be interested in what the teenagers do," he said. "They gravitate to the newest, the coolest, the hippest. Michael's not au courant. Iverson is. Love him or not, he speaks the language of teenagers -- rebellious and edgy. Michael was never rebellious or edgy. He was just great."
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