Safeway has already been found liable by the court for using Jordan’s identity in an ad in a special edition of Sports Illustrated that commemorated Jordan’s elevation to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jurors must decide only how much Safeway should pay Jordan in damages.
The case turns on the two sides’ competing versions of how to calculate the fair market value of the ad. Jordan says he signs only long-term deals expected to be worth $10 million, and that he kept his rates high by deliberately restricting the number and type of deals he did. But an expert hired by Dominick’s calculated that a “hypothetical deal” between the two sides could have been concluded for $126,900.
Jordan and an expert he hired say the $480 million he was paid by Nike between 2000 and 2012, and the $10 million-plus sums he was paid by Hanes, Gatorade and Upper Deck during the same period were all fair comparisons. However, Dominick’s says a $500,000 six-month deal Jordan did with Sirius satellite radio and other smaller deals, including one for the right to use his name as an answer in a board game are a fairer comparison.
Each side accuses the other of relying on “speculative” numbers.
Making his closing argument for Dominick’s, attorney Steve Mandell said that Jordan “can’t compare those huge endorsement contracts to the use here.”