Michael Jordan's son, Marcus, could cost the University of Central Florida nearly $3 million by insisting on wearing his father's brand of Nikes as a freshman basketball player, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The reason? UCF has an exclusive, multimillion dollar deal with adidas that requires all of its coaches and athletes to use adidas shoes and equipment.
After spreading around that kind of cash, adidas is not too happy with the 18-year-old son of the Chicago Bulls legend hitting the boards in Nike Air Jordan's.
But Marcus says he's not budging.
"When I was being recruited, we talked about it," he tells the paper. "They said they had talked to the adidas people, and it wasn't going to be a problem. I think everybody understands how big of a deal it is for my family."
The adidas company, however, tells the Sentinel that there has been no compromise over the issue and that the contract, which expires next year, is "currently under review." Nike, which already has deals with the University of Florida, Florida State and Miami, has not expressed interest in taking over the UCF contract, the Sentinel says.
Marcus Jordan says he means no disrespect to adidas and will gladly wear the rest of its gear, "but the shoes are going to be Jordan brand."