We were stunned -- as were many of you -- by the news that Nike has decided to enter into a new shoe and apparel deal with Eagles quarterback Mike Vick.
Nike previously had a wide-ranging arrangement with Vick, which came to an end not long after he was indicted on federal dogfighting and gambling charges in 2007.
Making the news even more eyebrow-raising is the fact that, in the current economy, shoe deals aren’t nearly as plentiful as they used to be.
Indeed, even T.O. doesn’t have a shoe deal.
“Shoe money is so frigging tough to get right now,” marketing rep Mike Ornstein recently told Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal. “Never seen a year like this, and there will never be another year like this.”
That said, it’s entirely possible that Vick won’t be cashing in dramatically, and that the arrangement is part of the broader process of cleansing the Vick name in anticipation of future endorsement deals.
Still, the notion that Vick has a shoe deal at a time when plenty of players who didn’t go to jail don’t have a shoe deal is odd, to say the least.