The mismatched cleats that earned Hurts a fine from the NFL were covered with black rectangles, reminiscent of Nike's "Banned" marketing campaign promoting the Air Jordan 1 in 1985.

Nike earned $50.6 billion in revenue in 2023, and Jordan Brand brought in $6.59 billion in revenue — or about 13% of Nike's total fiscal year 2023 sales. Aside from the obvious product ...