Ferrari’s Bizarre $107,000,000 Deal Crushed F1 Legend Michael Schumacher’s Dream to Imitate Michael Jordan’s Billion Dollar Legacy

What Michael Jordan is to the NBA universe is what Michael Schumacher is to F1. Both were legends in their respective sports. And naturally, that translated into affluence for both of them. But while Jordan struck gold with his Nike deal, Schumacher had to settle for silver, metaphorically, as Ferrari finalized a strange deal with FILA in 2001.

In 1984, Michael Jordan signed a 5-year deal with Nike, which would earn him $500K each year. In the ’90s, Nike wanted to enter the niche motorsport market. To do this, they custom-made race boots for Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver on the F1 grid. But it did not work out in the long run.

As per Bloomberg’s 2001 press release, Ferrari signed a 3-year deal with FILA wherein FILA would develop and sell sportswear apparel and shoes bearing the Ferrari brand, from 2002 to 2004. Though the deal brought in good money for Ferrari, Schumacher might have missed out on billions.

Jordan’s partnership with Nike contributed a large part to making him a billionaire. But the Ferrari-FILA deal not only cost Schumacher but also Nike. In 2003, Nike eventually exited the motorsport business as a result of FILA replacing them.

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Lets take a look at what could have been for Schumacher if Ferrari had continued with Nike instead of switching things up.

Michael Schumacher’s Nike Partnership

In the late ’90s, Nike wanted to make its way into the F1 paddock. Since Schumacher and the Ferrari F1 team was at the top at that time, Nike went ahead with the German driver as their choice. Over the course of 3 seasons, Nike presented the 7-time World Champion with several race boots.

Michael Schumacher proudly wore those Nike race boots in 2000, in his first year driving for Ferrari. It was the same year when he won his first WDC with Ferrari. He loved the boots so much that when Ferrari partnered with FILA in 2002, he even insisted FILA use the Nike design to make replicas.

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A few of Schumacher’s used Nike race boots have been sold online in the last few years. One can only wonder if a partnership with Nike could have helped Michael Schumacher add that extra ‘0’ to his bank balance.