Why did Nike drop Meb?

Yeah France wrote:

Why bring race into this?

I didn't. Sponsors did. Meet organizers did. Agents did.

If you truly believe that race has no impact on sponsorship and appearance fees in running, you are hopelessly naive. Comparing to basketball is about the most mindless argument possible here.

orbitboy wrote:

Perhaps it's because Meb wanted too much money, and Abdi takes whatever Nike will give him?

I give up.

Running fans say they want this to be treated like a real pro sport (which this is NOT currently), but ridicule the best athletes we have for asking to be treated like professionals.

It's like you want this to stay a niche hobby sport forever. As we wonder why billiards and darts get more airtime...

I have heard countless times that mebs brother is not the best choice for an agent. also, why would you spend a good chunk of money on an aging baseball player who just had a down year and is coming off multiple injuries? Guys like that don't get big deals or long term contracts and meb is no different.

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

Yeah France wrote:

Why bring race into this?

I didn't. Sponsors did. Meet organizers did. Agents did.

If you truly believe that race has no impact on sponsorship and appearance fees in running, you are hopelessly naive. Comparing to basketball is about the most mindless argument possible here.

I was using Nike's treatment of other minorities as the example. You brought up race so Jordan was a counter example. I do believe that race is not an issue with Nike. Look at the sprinters, they get good contracts.

Your point was race. So it is a red herring to call my comment mindless. This is a case about the popularity of distance running.

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

not so smart wrote:

There are many, many examples, but one recent one is Adidas dropping Bauhs despite his making the World team last summer.

Great comparison.

One guy has an Olympic silver medal and won the New York City f#cking marathon the year before he was dropped.

One was very fortunate to make a national team and has no done nothing to suggest a future medal of any colour, ever.

Bauhs is a very strong runner, much better than you or I will ever be, but bringing him to say "hey, look, other companies drop great athletes, too!" is a joke.

You are only making my point for me. You see that, right?

It doesn't prove your point at all. I think the only thing you've proved is a lack of understanding about athlete sponsorship. Your comment was about loyalty and I provided one example of where a loyal athlete who has been running well was cut because of the bottom line (ie, money). It was your statement that other companies have "LOYALTY" regardless of the financial situation. Simply not true.

For all we know, Nike could have offered Meb a very generous contact and he and his brother thought he deserved more and went looking elsewhere. As others have pointed out, doesn't it seem odd that not one other running company picked up Meb? As great a person as Meb is, is there any possibility he was asking for too much?

Even if Nike made a mistake and low-balled Meb, then I'm sure they regret not re-signing him. But to say all of these other companies are loyal and Nike isn't is just ignorance on your part. It's a business arrangement. What about athletes that jump from one company to another when they get a better offer - do you question their loyalty?

The guy above makes a good point, where is the thread asking why Adidas, Saucony, Brooks, Puma - all the good, 'loyal' companies (yeah right) - passed on Meb?

He was asking for too much money, for all we know more money than even his recent performances would be worth.

The comparison between Abdi and Meb is apt. Even though Abdi has a faster marathon PR and is a three? time Olympian in his own right, he has done far less in majors and especially in the past couple of years, making the Olympic marathon team notwithstanding. He is also roughly the same age. I'm sure it came down to money. Seems like Abdi has more personality. Maybe taking a dunk in the steeple pit after the 10,000 victory in 2008 wasn't such a bad move after all. Of course, if Ritz would ever learn to negative-split a marathon, Abdi wouldn't even be on the team this year.

But I like Abdi and I'm glad he's still around. Hopefully he will garner a top-ten performance in London.

Abdi took less money. End of story.

I think it's cool that both Meb and Abdi stayed with their college coaches, if I'm not mistaken.

we've been through this before on here, obviously meb and his brother asked for more than nike thought he was worth to them, same thing with boston last year, they overreach and get rejected and then spin it as being dropped, not invited, etc.

here are the details from when meb's contract with nike was up before this last time: he was at $200K/year, meb and brother say they want $400K (remember, meb is supporting his family and also by all appearances his brother and whatever family he has), anyway nike says no, you're not getting $400k, it's $200k, take it or leave it. this is before the marathon trials in 2007. meb and brother start shopping around and find, big surprise, nobody else wants to pay him $400k, then meb doesn't make team at trials, goes back to nike and says, great, i accept your offer of $200k, nike says nice try, $100k, take it or leave it, meb took it

same thing probably happened again when his contract was up this last time because he would throw around winning nyc marathon, i was on letterman, look how much i'm worth

What we know, and we know nothing more, is that they couldn't agree on a figure, not that Nike simply cut him loose. Happens all the time in the business world.

It also happens that companies elect not to renew. Ask Ian Dobson.

orbitboy wrote:

come at me BRO wrote:

Meb thought he was worth more than he actually was. Nike can't pay all the delusional athletes the insanely high salaries they are asking for.

Right. It's not that hard to figure out what happened. Anyone who thinks Meb was dropped outright by Nike, or was passed over for being "unmarketable" (in other words "black") needs to explain why Abdi has been with Nike all these years. Abdi had a longer dry spell than Meb on top of having achieved far less than Meb. Yet he's still with Nike and Meb is not.

The answer is Abdi is willing to stay with Nike for less money, and Meb wanted more than Nike was willing to pay. Meb is with Skechers because Skechers offered more than everyone else did.

True that!

Wrong:

We want our sport to be professional, and the athletes to be treated as professionals. This means that they and the companies have to make business decisions, not decisions based on "loyalty."

Do NFL teams keep old players because they have played on their team for a number of years?

Did the Yankees just dump AJ despite the fact that he helped win them a world series?

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

Running fans say they want this to be treated like a real pro sport (which this is NOT currently), but ridicule the best athletes we have for asking to be treated like professionals.

Wow, can you really spin a straw man yarn or what!?

Yeah France wrote:

I do believe that race is not an issue with Nike. Look at the sprinters, they get good contracts.

You just get funnier and funnier, you know that?

Please name for us the white sprinter who was won a silver medal at a recent Olympics AND a competition with the domestic and global prestige of the New York Marathon. Tick-tick-tick...oh, nobody?

When that man shows up, I think we both know he is not going to have to look too hard for sponsorship money. Don't we, now? I think we can be fairly certain he won't need to go to Sketchers. Truthfully, if a white American man even broke 10.00 this year, sponsors (including Nike) would be fighting for him. Yet the most decorated distance runner in the US has Nike clawing back money and showing him the door. (Oh, and just coincidentally, he's black.)

Thank you, once again, for making my point for me. I hadn't even thought of the sprinter angle - kudos for bringing it to bear AGAINST yourself.

When Hall has his Olympic silver (ha!) and NYCM win (hahaha!), we ALL know he won't be looking for a sponsor, even if he does absolutely nothing for a year afterward.

Whose fault is it that Ryan Hall gets more attention than Meb?

I don't know why Meb was dropped. That's why I asked.

But, I do know the following;

a) All shoe companies are feeling the tightening of the belt.

b) Nike has laid off many employees. And they have dropped athletes that are asking for more $, while Nike is said to have been asking for these sponsored athletes to be patient and stay at the same amount.

[/quote]

You just get funnier and funnier, you know that?

Please name for us the white sprinter who was won a silver medal at a recent Olympics AND a competition with the domestic and global prestige of the New York Marathon. Tick-tick-tick...oh, nobody?

When that man shows up, I think we both know he is not going to have to look too hard for sponsorship money. Don't we, now? I think we can be fairly certain he won't need to go to Sketchers. Truthfully, if a white American man even broke 10.00 this year, sponsors (including Nike) would be fighting for him. Yet the most decorated distance runner in the US has Nike clawing back money and showing him the door. (Oh, and just coincidentally, he's black.)

Thank you, once again, for making my point for me. I hadn't even thought of the sprinter angle - kudos for bringing it to bear AGAINST yourself.

When Hall has his Olympic silver (ha!) and NYCM win (hahaha!), we ALL know he won't be looking for a sponsor, even if he does absolutely nothing for a year afterward.[/quote]

I love how this smart guy gets ripped on for many of his posts.

How about Jeremy Wariner? He is in a sprint event and is probably the most decorated white sprinter. I am sure he will get dropped or lower his contract amount if he does not produce in London.

So your argument is, "We have never seen a white guy do well, so we do not know How Nike treat his contract. Therefore, Nike is racist."

Jeff Wigand wrote:

Whose fault is it that Ryan Hall gets more attention than Meb?

NOW we're getting somewhere. I'm glad you asked this.

- Both have won a trials marathon.

- Since trials in 2007, Hall has NEVER WON ANOTHER MARATHON. You know that, right?

- Hall has time-trialled well in London (although 2:06:anything means fairly little on the world stage right now) and ran a massively aided time in Boston last year.

- Meb has won NYCM, which is close to Boston or greater in terms of domestic and global prestige.

- Meb has an Olympic silver, which is basically the currency of recognition for track athletes in the lay population (non-runners and recreational runners).

Back to your (very interesting) question: whose fault is that Hall gets more attention? Let's see: Asics was willing to sponsor Hall in 2005, the year he won NCAAs in, what 13:2x? He was impressive then, and since has done some amazing things, certainly had some down times, though. But his sponsor has stuck with him through the highs and lows that are INEVITABLE IN LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING. This in spite of the fact that his non-aided marathon and half-marathon PRS are now 4 and 5 years old.

Nike dropped Meb when he was actually running BETTER than his NYCM win - he basically tied his PR in Boston, then broke it the next year at NYCM, all to get dropped. (Your mumbling about his "age" or "injury trouble" ignore the simple fact that he is clearly still improving.)

If Nike is unable to market a runner with an Olympic medal and an NYCM win, who is still running PRs, that is pretty bad for a marketing department.

So, whose fault do you think it is? Meb's, for winning races and setting PRs at 36? I would really like to know your answer to this question. Clown.