Maya Moore, WNBA player and former University of Connecticut star, became the first female basketball player to sign a deal with the Jordan brand in 2011. While the brand had many notable collaborations with male NBA players at this time, Moore was the first female to be brought into the fold (Brettman). Moore was the perfect player for the collaboration because of her commitment and dedication to the sport of women’s basketball (Castillo).
Jordan saw signing a deal with Moore as a chance to launch a breakthrough for female athletes looking to achieve greater marketability and as a way to bring more attention to the WNBA. It is difficult for female athletes in team sports to rise above their sport and become marketable icons because leagues like the WNBA do not have huge followings. These leagues do not bring in the casual fan but more of a niche fan, which makes the fan base even tougher to reach. Moore believed that signing with the Jordan brand would bring more media attention and exposure to the WNBA (Castillo).
In 2015, Moore received her own special edition Air Jordan 1 retro sneakers colored to her specifications.
“This puts her on par with the rest of Team Jordan’s big names. It’s now Melo [Carmelo Anthony], CP3 [Chris Paul], Blake [Griffin], [Russell] Westbrook and Maya. Having her logo on one of the most iconic sneakers of all time gives women something new to shoot for” (Dover).
-Brandon Richard, senior writer for Sole Collector
The release of these Jordan x Maya Moore shoes gave female athletes a higher goal to achieve. Moore was a trailblazer as the lone female Jordan brand hoops athlete. It opened the door for females in terms of the possibilities of future marketing deals and collaborations with big brands like Jordan (Dover).
In 2018, Moore famously recreated the Michael Jordan “wings” pose. The billboard of this image was up in Minneapolis right before the opening of the WNBA season. The advertisement told basketball fans that “if you aren’t paying attention to Moore already, then it’s time to start” (Skiver).
With the attention the billboard received, the Jordan brand jumped at the opportunity to make a commercial featuring Moore in the “wings” pose.
Moore has stated that her collaboration with Jordan helped to further publicity for the WNBA. Having her name associated with the Nike and Jordan Brand was a smart marketing move, as it drew people’s attention to the growth of the women’s league (Brettman).
The Jordan Effect reached the WNBA through the collaboration of Jordan x Maya Moore. The Nike deal brought more attention to not only the WNBA star but to the entire league. It showed the power that marketing has over sports and how branding can be the difference maker in the promotion of leagues. Moore broke down barriers for female athletes looking to become marketable icons and showed the gender inequalities among sports marketing and advertising, especially in the world of basketball. The fact that Moore was the first female basketball player to collaborate with the Jordan brand after twenty years of working with NBA stars shows how long it took Nike to equalize branding of women’s and men’s athletes. While it may have been a long time coming, the Jordan Effect brought much needed attention to the WNBA and the female athletes in the league. The Jordan x Moore collaboration revolutionized sports marketing and branding deals for future female basketball players.