The teleconference is in 15 minutes announcing this. We got the email this morning.
This shows this is a BUSINESS. This is Ryan's job and he has to protect his financial interests.
By locking up for Chicago now, Ryan gets more money than if he bombs in Boston. Chicago hedges its best but gets some publicity.
The mistake seems to be what if it isn't in Ryan's best interest to run Chicago. Say he does horribly in Boston and decides "hey I need a break from the marathon." Likely he won't know that until after Boston.
However, then he could just pull out of Chicago. He no doubt gets some bonus for today's announcement and some bonus when he actually shows up to run, so today's announcement doesn't mean he has to run Chicago, it just really means he can't run another fall marathon instead.
But once he's signed on and looking at a six figure check to run, it becomes harder to say, "3 years from now it will be best for my career to pass up this immediate payday."
Plus Hall's move pre-empts Dathan from taking some of the money Hall may get this fall. If Ryan does so-so in Boston and Dathan announced he's doing a fall marathon who will everyone want to see? Dathan. Now however, some of that money is in Ryan's pocket.
It all seems a bit premature for me, but it's a business decision. Chicago's course is less taxing on the body than NYs. NY and Chicago are the two options for Ryan. If he knows he doesn't want to run NY but is unsure about Chicago, why not go ahead and sign on now?