Roger Federer made the deal of his life when he left Nike for Uniqlo in 2018. Then signing with On Running pushed his earnings to more than $1 billion, making him the only billionaire tennis star. Further, Nike sold the iconic RF logo to Tenro AG, which meant that it was now Federer’s property. Former Nike CEO, Mike Nakajima, was absent from the brand when this transpired. He lambasted Nike for not treating the RF logo in a similar way as Jordans, a line of shoes they created in tandem with NBA legend Michael Jordan.

While unfortunate for Nike, Federer made one of his best business decisions when he broke off his partnership with them. As soon as he left the company, he managed to earn a deal of $300 million with Uniqlo. Adding a 3% stake in On, Federer’s valuation was launched to the extreme and currently stands at $550 million.

Former CEO on letting Roger Federer go

Mike Nakajima was a prominent individual in Nike’s deal with Roger Federer. In ‘The Roger Federer Effect’, Nakajima talked about how the move by his brand was a bad move. As per him, the situation should never have transpired so far that Federer chose to leave.

For Nakajima, Nike and Federer should have had a lifelong partnership. He gave the examples of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.

“That should never have happened. For us to let somebody like that go, it’s an atrocity. Roger Federer belonged with Nike for the rest of his career, just like Michael Jordan. Like LeBron James, like Tiger Woods,” Nakajima said in the autobiography.

He further explained, “He’s right up there with the all-time greatest Nike athletes ever. I’m still disappointed. But it happened. I have to get over it. It wasn’t my decision and I wasn’t there for it.”

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To substantiate his claims, the former CEO has the example of Jordans. Even though Michael Jordan has not played in two decades, Nike sells millions of Jordans all year. Currently, Nike is able to earn upwards of $5 billion from their Jordan sneakers, and they could’ve done the same with the RF logo.

“Nike is still selling millions and millions of pairs of Jordans. When’s the last time Michael played? It’s been many, many years. They could have done the same thing for Roger. For years to come, they could have created shoes with an RF logo.”

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Although they may be lamenting their decision now, Nike has little to no chance of getting the former number 1 back. Instead, they now have a competitor in On Running, the Swiss apparel brand backed by Federer.