Nike has sacked Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick, contradicting the player's agent who said on Wednesday that the shoe giant had re-signed him. "Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick," Nike said in a statement issued Thursday. Vick was released from prison in May after serving time for killing dogs for sport and profit.
It's understandable that Nike would be wary of resuming business with a man convicted of running an illegal dog-fighting operation that horrified the nation. Yet on Wednesday, Mike Principe, managing director of Vick's agency, BEST, apparently believing that Nike had re-signed his client, announced as much at an event hosted by SportsBusiness Journal. Without disclosing details of an arrangement, Vick's agent, Joel Segal, said, "Mike has had a great relationship with Nike and is excited to be part of the Nike team again."
But on Thursday, Nike denied that it had re-signed Vick but said it had agreed to supply "product" to him "as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike."
Sponsors have been been assessing whether to hitch their wagons to Vick, who served as the ringleader of Bad Newz Kennels, a Virginia compound where 70 dogs, mostly pit bull terriers showing signs of abuse, were seized. Vick had funded and organized dogfighting games where attendees abused drugs and bet on the animals. Several dogs were killed; others were maimed.
Nike and Vick had had an endorsement contract when he played for the Atlanta Falcons and thrilled NFL fans with his dynamic play. But the marketer dropped Vick after his guilty plea.