A New Air Force in D.C.

By Robert Sullivan

In college he was energetic and full of promise. As a pro he was dominant, a winner, a tough-minded, fierce-talking leader of men. As a pitchman he was smooth and charismatic. As a movie star he held his own with an animal act.

Energetic, tough, charismatic, a winner, a leader. That should make for a pretty good suit. We'll find out, because Michael Jordan is now a suit. Gone, except for practice sessions, are the short pants. Last week he became a pinstriped part owner of the NBA's Washington Wizards (13-29), a team whose skills can make fans disappear. The title on his office will read PRESIDENT OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS, meaning that Jordan will supervise both players and coaches. His part ownership comes from his buying into a company run by America Online executive Ted Leonsis and businessman Jonathan Ledecky that owns 44% of the Wizards' parent corporation.

Jordan's back in the game because he needed some new action and because the suffering NBA needed its marquee man back in the fold. When he retired as a player after leading the Chicago Bulls to a sixth Jordan-era championship in 1998, Mike said he was going to hang in Highland Park, play with the kids, join the car pool. His bucolic retirement lasted as long as his flirtation with baseball: 1 1/2 NBA seasons.

Jordan, 36, started sniffing around for an ownership deal last year and almost found one in Charlotte, N.C. NBA commissioner David Stern, well aware of his league's fall from grace because of Jordan's departure, as well as the lockout--league attendance, TV ratings and sales of NBA apparel have dipped--encouraged more sniffing. At least five franchises courted His Airness.

The Wizards leaped from that pack. Last fall at Jordan's suburban-Chicago restaurant, five men broke bread and talked turkey for four hours. At one point Ledecky got in Jordan's face: "Michael, I want to know--can you focus on the Wizards, or are we going to be another entry on your long list of corporate deals?" Jordan's eyes narrowed the way they would when Toni Kukoc didn't dish off. "Jon," said Jordan, "when I decide to compete, there is only one way I do it. To win." After a few cigars and a $40 million payment by Jordan, he was president of one of the worst, most overpaid teams in the league. The Wizards won their last championship in 1978, playing as the Bullets. Even the Republicans have a better record when it comes to winning the Big One.

M.J.'s return to hoops may not be bad for his other affiliations either. "I think the decision was 50% for the challenge, 50% a business decision," says Ryan Schinman, president of CNB Entertainment, a New York marketing firm that engineers deals for athletes and entertainers. "Obviously, when Michael is not in the limelight, it hurts his corporate partnerships, and he's absolutely more valuable now than he was a week ago."

A troubling prospect for other NBA franchises is that the Wizards could be rebuilt not only by Jordan but also by bagmen from his corporate sponsor Nike and his agency, SFX Entertainment. With an eye toward parity, the NBA imposes a salary cap on all rosters. Jordan's longtime agent David Falk, who was at the Chicago lunch, is chairman of the SFX Sports Group and presumably will soon be negotiating with the Wizards' top basketball executive. He'll have to; he represents two players on the Wizards as well. If Jordan is in trouble on the salary cap, will Falk offer his friend a bargain? Will he guide other clients to Team Jordan? And could Nike, whose Air trademark is Jordan's middle name, also help with Washington's requirements under the cap? When Nike football star Deion Sanders went from the Atlanta Falcons to the San Francisco 49ers in 1994, he reportedly took a pay cut. But Nike, which wanted Neon Deion playing for a prime-time club, was rumored to have made up the difference. "It's uncharted waters," said NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre about the potential for conflicts. "We'll have to figure how to deal with it."

So the NBA will deal with it--later. Nothing as mundane as fair play was going to delay last Wednesday's announcement that Michael is back.

--With reporting by Sally Donnelly/Washington and Julie Grace/Chicago

With reporting by Sally Donnelly/Washington and Julie Grace/Chicago