Sports Biz

Published: Wednesday, 1 Jul 2009 | 9:29 AM ET

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The best part about lawsuits for the uninvolved public is that they give us all a glance into contracts that have previously been kept confidential.

That's one of the most fascinating aspects of the recent lawsuit brought about by a company called SportsFuzion, which is suing the Basketball Hall of Fame and Nike

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[NKE  Loading...      ()   ] for interfering with his company's official exclusive licensee status of the Hall of Fame.

The suit sets forth the value of each prominent Hall of Famer by stating how much licensees who use their rights have to guarantee the star.

Here's a list of the minimum payment a licensee would have to make to produce items with the Hall of Fame logo as well as the appropriate NCAA and NBA team logos associated with the player.

$75,000: Michael Jordan

$37,500: Charles Barkley

$26,250: Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Julius Erving.

$15,000: Isiah Thomas, Pete Maravich, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain

$11,250: Patrick Ewing and David Robinson.

$7,500: Bill Russell, Jerry West, George Gervin, James Worthy, Hakeem Olajawon, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller and Karl Malone.

Jordan's numbers just go to show you how much bigger he is than any other star. I'm actually surprised Barkley's value is so high. I also wouldn't put Isiah in the $15,000 class and no matter how many more championships David Robinson won, I can't see how -- in the licensing world -- he's worth as much as Patrick Ewing.

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