The wisdom as we all know with IAAF bidding and alike is the under the table money paid to the voting officials. China has a very long history of this type of back door compensation method.
Ritz's reality is what most valuable to Nike , yes they need to have a presence at x-country and T & F nationals. The game though is played at the marathons and road races , far bigger audience and consumer base.
World cross as we know is a team race and looked at it that way unless you can contend as an individual.
Ritz as he is on the backside of his career might best suited to pick key road races in the US , run the one big fast marathon to keep his status amongst americans ( note he's not in the top 75 for world ranked times ) , run a b-level marathon i.e. LA that has good prize money and big audience and none of the 2:04 guys along with a real shot at winning.