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Adidas AG ended its $3 million endorsement contract with the University of Central Florida’s athletic department after one of Michael Jordan’s sons played a game for the school wearing Nike Inc. shoes named after his father.

Marcus Jordan, a freshman guard at UCF, told the university he would only wear Nike Air Jordan shoes out of deference to his father, the five-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player and basketball Hall of Fame member.

Every player on the team except Marcus Jordan wore Adidas shoes in the Knights’ 84-65 victory over St. Leo University in an exhibition game last night.

“We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics,” school spokesman Leigh Torbin said in a statement. “Once we receive official notice we will be able to further respond.”

There was no immediate word on how the school would offset the lost revenue.

Adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso told the Orlando Sentinel that the school failed to live up to its side of the deal.

“The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to Adidas,” Corso said. “As a result, we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward.”

Corso didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail request for a copy of the statement. Messages left with Michael Jordan’s manager, Estee Portnoy, and with Torbin to speak with Marcus Jordan weren’t immediately returned.

Shoes, Equipment

The school was operating under a tentative contract with Adidas that ran through 2015 and was valued at $3 million, according to the Sentinel. Adidas, the world’s second-largest sporting-goods maker, provided the Knights’ sports teams with shoes, apparel and equipment. The school earlier said it had been working to extend its contract with the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based company for more than a year.

Steve Rosner, co-founder of 16W Marketing LLC in East Rutherford, New Jersey, said the case sets a bad precedent, putting one player over the entire program.

“What if the No. 1 (high school) kid is offered a scholarship to play at Duke, which is a Nike school, and he says I’ll come to your school, but I won’t wear your shoes,” Rosner said in an interview. “I would imagine they wouldn’t offer him a scholarship. Who’s in charge here?”

UCF reached an agreement with Adidas’s regional representatives to let Marcus Jordan wear Nikes before higher level corporate officials objected, the Sentinel reported. Terri Hines, a spokeswoman for Nike’s Jordan brand, said no one was available to speak at this time.

“It is important to state that UCF Athletics did make Adidas aware of Marcus’s recruitment and was led to believe that there would be a workable solution to a unique situation,” the school said in a statement Oct. 23 when the matter first came to light.

Rosner said the school isn’t sending the proper message.

“There is no one individual bigger than the team,” he said.

(Source: Bloomberg)