Business of Football
Greenberg: Dear Michael Jordan, now that you’re done with Charlotte, come home to Chicago
Michael Jordan holds up six fingers for each Chicago Bulls championship as he addresses the crowd at the Petrillo Music Shell at Grant Park on June 16, 1998, in Chicago. (Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Jon Greenberg
By Jon Greenberg
Jun 22, 2023
The best thing that happened to Michael Jordan after he made the shot over Bryon Russell is that he left Chicago.
It didn’t happen quickly. He was here, on and off, for a long time, but his basketball and business interests were elsewhere. And then he was gone for good.
His suburban estate remains empty. His legacy unfulfilled. His statue well-photographed.
He’s on the verge of completing a sale of his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets, a team that barely registers a blip on the NBA radar. Given his importance to the league as its greatest player, it would have been befitting for Jordan to have owned a more prestigious team (and not been a part-owner of a moribund Washington franchise 10 years earlier).
It would have been poetic for him to have had a major stake in the Bulls.
There’s an irony to Jordan having made the Bulls so valuable that he couldn’t buy them. While the Bulls haven’t accomplished much in his absence, how bad might they have been if Jordan were running things? His track record as a basketball executive isn’t pretty. Charlotte went 423-600 during his 13 seasons as controlling owner, making the playoffs just twice. They had three winning seasons and a .413 winning percentage.
Michael Jordan, shown addressing the media in 2020 before the Hornets’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Paris, doesn’t have many connections left in Chicago. (Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images)
Jordan always wanted to buy the Bulls, but they weren’t for sale. It was for the best, I suppose. His legacy here would have been tarnished if he were running the Bulls, taking the slings and arrows that Jerry Reinsdorf has sloughed off over the years.
He didn’t have to risk it. By disappearing from Chicago, we remember him for what he was and the greatness that will, seemingly, never return. “The Last Dance” reminded us of Jordan’s dominance and why he was so important.
But we could sure use him back. Maybe Jordan is best left to our nostalgic impulses, and this will soon be the city of Justin Fields and Connor Bedard. But his Hornets goodbye also feels like an opportunity for a reunion.
It’s odd that Jordan doesn’t have many connections left in the city.
He has steakhouses downtown and in Oak Brook, but there are no must-visit spots. As a restaurateur, he is no Mike Ditka. There’s a Jordan store on South State Street, but his son Marcus (who has a new podcast with his girlfriend, Scottie Pippen’s ex-wife, and that’s a parenthetical you probably never wanted to read) put his Trophy Room store in Orlando, not Chicago. There is almost nothing named after him, except a generation of kids and dogs.
The statue is how he is celebrated these days, and it’s a shame that the Bulls moved it inside their atrium when it opened in 2017. The United Center atrium is generally open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but I’ve been disappointed before taking out-of-towners down there only to find it closed.
The Bulls should have designed a public space outside the arena for the Jordan pilgrimages rather than use it to anchor their arena addition. It’s a focal point for pictures on game nights, but statues belong outside. They’re for the public.
The Bulls organization is forever trying to move forward from the Jordan era and even the abbreviated Derrick Rose one. There’s a new front office and a new Reinsdorf (Michael, Jerry’s son) to blame, a new path to mediocrity to chart.
But maybe it’s time to welcome back Jordan, time to bring him back into the fold. He’d have to divest from the minority stake in the Hornets that he’s said to be keeping in the wake of a reported $3 billion sale to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, but he could use his profits to pay a handsome price for a piece of his old team.
While the profitable Bulls aren’t for sale, imagine what they would go for if the Hornets are truly being sold for $3 billion. Forbes’ valuations, which should always be taken as an educated guess, pegged their value at $4.1 billion, but my educated speculation has them at more like $5 billion. Would the Bulls’ partners take, say, a billion dollars for a 20 percent cut of the team? Considering there’s no plan to ever sell the franchise in full, why not?
Just having Jordan back would add a little excitement to a pretty boring franchise. He’s been almost a stranger the past 25 years, the result of a messy end to a life-changing run.
Now, let’s be clear. Should Jordan be running basketball operations for the Bulls? No. Would he want some kind of public-facing role, shaking hands and schmoozing fans? Oh god no. He could show up when he wanted to and bask in the adoration of a city that still loves him.
In terms of money, he’s a rich, old guy now, so he should be looking for investments to placate his ego. Getting a share of the Bulls would be a nice vanity addition to his portfolio. While the Bulls aren’t a very successful NBA franchise on the court, they still carry more than their share of cachet. As we saw with the Derrick Rose teams, when the Bulls are good, they can still be the crush of a sports-loving city.
The NBA is a global behemoth in part because of Jordan’s success and marketing prowess. The Bulls and the league could still use him, but does he have anything to gain?
Well, when you’re as rich and successful as Jordan, maybe he’s content to fully retire to a life of leisure. Who wouldn’t be? But getting back in the game in Chicago might also scratch that competitive itch that will never go away.
The Bulls and Nike could erect a Michael Jordan museum by the United Center, a testament to his exploits and his pursuit of the almighty dollar. The world’s biggest Jordan store, art gallery and historical artifact center.
Chicago is getting the Obama presidential library, why not a Jordan one too?
Another option for Jordan could be the other team he once (kind of) played for: the White Sox.
As Jerry Reinsdorf said years ago, the Sox, owned in a partnership arrangement with other long-time investors, will go up for sale when he passes. But that’s not set in stone. Frankly, now would be a good time for the Sox owners to get out before the complete implosion of the RSN market. Who needs that stress?
Whenever the Sox sell, there won’t be any back-room favorites to this process. Reinsdorf has promised the team will be sold to the highest bidder.
Though no one should dream about Jordan making baseball decisions, or basketball ones, he could be the welcomed face of a new ownership group and a new era.
So when the Hornets deal gets done, and Jordan rids himself of the small time, we should be welcoming Jordan back where he belongs: the city that made him who he is.
(Photo of Michael Jordan celebrating his sixth NBA title at Chicago’s Grant Park in 1998: Chuck Ber
man / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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