Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden may be a rising star, but he has a long way to go to take on the king, by which we mean Michael Jordan.

MJ hasn’t played professional basketball since 2003 and hasn’t won a championship since 1998, yet he has one of the strongest, shiniest brands of any celebrity out there.

Forbes estimates “that Jordan earned $60 million over the past year mainly through his endorsement deals with Nike, Gatorade, Hanes, Upper Deck, 2K Sports and Five Star Fragrances.” Of course, he also has five restaurants and a car dealership of his own in North Carolina. Plus, he’s got a day job as the majority owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

During Jordan’s playing days he was earning $50 million annually at his peak from sponsorships. While many of his sponsors have been with him for some time, Forbes notes that 2K signed him last year to be on the cover of NBA 2K11, which went on to sell five million panels  and become the best-selling NBA video game in history.

Jordan's deal with Nike started when he graduated from college in 1984. The five-year deal, worth $2.5 million, must have felt like big bucks to him then. The Jordan brand now pulls in more than $1 billion annually, “with MJ getting a piece of the action,” the site notes. “The Jordan Brand’s market share of the U.S. basketball shoe market is 71% according to SportsOneSource,” Forbes reports.Continue reading...

Before every major sports season gets underway, Upper Deck churns out endless numbers of cards to satisfy every seven- and 67-year-old card junkie.

But this year, all those NHL card junkies out there that are looking for a new Ilya Bryzgalov card now that he’s joined the Philadelphia Flyers or a Mike Richards card with him wearing his new Los Angeles Kings duds, they will all have to just sit tight. 

The reason things are slightly behind schedule is because the Atlanta Thrashers were purchased by True North Sports and Entertainment Group, which moved the team to Winnipeg. While the team name was obvious – the Jets, like the NHL team that left town in 1996 – Winnipeg’s logo has yet to be announced.

This is what’s holding things up, the London Free Press reports, since the logo plays a key part in the card’s design.Continue reading...

Business Insider's John Carney reports the following brands sighing with relief that Tiger Woods' injuries seem less serious than initially reported.

• Accenture
• AT&T
• EA Sports
• Gatorade
• Gillette
• Golf Digest
• Net Jets
• Nike
• Tag Hauer
• Tatwee: The Tiger Woods Dubai
• TLC Laser Eye Center
• Upper Deck
• PGA Tour