ROBBY ANDREWS SIGNS WITH ADIDAS!!!

Serious question - why do these companies pay these guys anything? Yeah, yeah, I know that we (runners) think they should be paid as much as NFL stars because, well, they work so hard... But what is in it for the company? Do they make commercials featuring Galen Rupp? Does anyone, anywhere buy shoes because they want to be like Rupp? Seriously, why sponsor these athletes at all? What's in it for the sponsors?

Bestworstrunnerever wrote:

Calling him a long shot for Olympics is a joke. Ask is rivals what they thought of his recent 1500? I'm think they took notice.

What rivals? Except for the American ones nobody else in the world tok notice.

I'm sure Tyson Gay helps sell Adidas and Bolt helps sell Puma.

Getting someone like Andrews helps break up that sea of Nike uniforms that you see in every meet.

Having nobody representing Adidas in these races will hurt sales.

Impossible to tell the return on investment but you know it will help with sales and will hurt sales if you never see an Adidas uniform in these events.

Also, when they sponsor events, which surely helps sales, these companies can have a say so in which athletes show up.

Nike will tell Penn Relays that you have to give us $X and we will provide Y athletes. This is revenue to Nike that will help pay its athletes and give it exposure.

The athletes received from Nike will help sell advertising for TV and for ticket sales that Penn will recoup from what it gave to Nike. The advertisers will pay money to Penn because people want to see these professional athletes and it gives them exposure to their product.

Bunch of other stuff going on as well.

mpanzica wrote:

i'm happy for Andrews because he really deserves a long-term deal, but a little bummed because i was hoping Nike would pick him up. He trains with Webb, a nike athlete, so i figured it would work out best if they both represented Nike... or maybe because im a big fan of Nike. they're really missing out, because he's the future in american mid0distance running.

I actually like Nike product and I like how much sponsorship they give to athletes, but I like the idea of athletes from different sponsors training together.

It kind of reminds me of The Real Maine, where you have at least three guys who will be vying for All-American spots in the same event, from different teams, training with each other. It's what we need to get more guys to the next level.

sf native wrote:

There is no way that either Rupp or Andrews signed for anywhere near the money mentioned.

Andrews, as noted earlier, is 65K with incentives that could bump him to just over 100K.

Rupp, is close to 225K per year with incentives that would push him up to 400K.

Andrews should feel damn lucky to get a deal like this, hope he doesn't screw it up.. addidas will not look so kindly on his gf wearing his singlet and posting on twitter.

Where do you get these numbers? I'm pretty sure sponsored athletes aren't allowed to discuss their contracts.

I was gonna get a new pair of Vics but now i'm picking up a pair of Adidas MDs instead.

#teamandrews

Hats too bee axed wrote:

Serious question - why do these companies pay these guys anything? Yeah, yeah, I know that we (runners) think they should be paid as much as NFL stars because, well, they work so hard... But what is in it for the company? Do they make commercials featuring Galen Rupp? Does anyone, anywhere buy shoes because they want to be like Rupp? Seriously, why sponsor these athletes at all? What's in it for the sponsors?

With advertising, the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. You can't put a price on a single advertising investment, but their strategy as a whole should produce returns greater than their investment.

You could make the same argument about TV commercials, billboards, etc.

Hats too bee axed wrote:

Serious question - why do these companies pay these guys anything? Yeah, yeah, I know that we (runners) think they should be paid as much as NFL stars because, well, they work so hard... But what is in it for the company? Do they make commercials featuring Galen Rupp? Does anyone, anywhere buy shoes because they want to be like Rupp?

Yes, this is how advertising works. People buy products associated with people they admire. Some do it consciously and some do it subconsciously, but we all do it.

And NFL stars get paid because they sell tickets and boost broadcast rights values -- often by helping their teams win, but sometimes because they dance well in the end zone, say funny things to reporters, or otherwise entertain. Their pay is often unrelated to how hard they work.

webby wrote:

Yes, this is how advertising works. People buy products associated with people they admire. Some do it consciously and some do it subconsciously, but we all do it.

.

I walked into Sports Authority not too long ago and was a bit surprised to see a ~10 foot tall banner with Evan Jager posing on it in his Nike gear. It is right near the front so pretty much everyone sees it as they come in.

Personally, I was surprised because that was before Jager was running well in the steeple, and really had not done anything in 2+ years, so the general public would not have a freaking clue who the guy is.

Then I thought, "well, he's a decent looking kid with the shaggy hairdo thing going on (which is very big around these parts), so I guess that can sell some shoes." It's probably the latter that keeps that banner up.

webby wrote:

Yes, this is how advertising works. People buy products associated with people they admire. Some do it consciously and some do it subconsciously, but we all do it.

And NFL stars get paid because they sell tickets and boost broadcast rights values -- often by helping their teams win, but sometimes because they dance well in the end zone, say funny things to reporters, or otherwise entertain. Their pay is often unrelated to how hard they work.

Get off your high horse. NFL players in general work just as hard as professional track athletes, and perform under substantially higher pressure. No one's recieved a contract because they dance well in the end zone, as Owens and Ochochinco.

Robby's signing is impressive..however, I would venture to say that the kid from Bernard's performance was far more impressive. For those of you who dont know this kid ate 28 snickers bars, 5 racks of ribs, 23 pzones, 13 small babies, 14 ring pops, and 47 lbs of wings before running a gutsy two mile at the Bernard's invitational. I would say hands down one of the most gutsy performances of the decade. The only other thing tha could rival such a performance was at nationals when he took a spill at hurt his layyyyyg but still finished strong. What a guy

toro wrote:

So what are his chances at making the Olympic team?

50%?

Better than 50%?

He has the 4th fastest 800m time and the 6th fastest 1500m time within the last year (after taking out Lagat and Rupp) and Torrence has a faster PR.

And there are a few around the same time as him.

The fact that he can try in two events helps his odds.

Breaking up Symmonds, Robinson and Jock will be tough.

Getting top 3 among Lomong, Manzano, Wheating and Centro will be tougher.

I think it's going to take 1:43 to make the 800 team but I feel that he will do it.

Do not forget Martin @ 1:44:77 just ran @ his conference champs.

Youre right James Deen. That kid Bernards overcame a hell of a relapse from 07 when he took a spill and hurt his layyyg at the 2009 NIN. Probably the only more impressive feat was his 2 mile at the Bernards Invitational. He ran the whole 2nd mile of the race bent in half to fight of the side stitch and STILL ran 10 12. Outrageous

malmø wrote:

Bestworstrunnerever wrote:

Calling him a long shot for Olympics is a joke. Ask is rivals what they thought of his recent 1500? I'm think they took notice.

What rivals? Except for the American ones nobody else in the world tok notice.

Don't forget the one british runner that took notice. What was his name? Mo something?

Haile Gebrasallie makes less money then the backup goalie for the Phenonix Ceyotes

fgfg wrote:

Haile Gebrasallie makes less money then the backup goalie for the Phenonix Ceyotes

The back up Goalie for the 'Yotes plays a sport people actually give a shit about.

fgfg wrote:

Haile Gebrasallie makes less money then the backup goalie for the Phenonix Ceyotes

less than

more than

if...then

trialswatcher wrote:

Rupp signed what? What is your validation of that deal?

Almost 2.5 per base for 7 years?

I think not, unless you can verify that

Rupp's deal is probably special. One that stands out from the usual deal parameters that Nike does for USA distance running.

Consider, his coach is a long time Nike exec and star in the sport.

When he was in high school PK came to watch him try and go sub 4 in the mile...and told Rupp's parents that Rupp had two extra fathers now. Salazar and Phil Knight.

So, PK could - because of Nike's bank - just picked a number out of thin air for Rupp's contract.

My guess is it went one of two ways... Totally standard deal for Rupp's accomplishments to date... Or, whatever deal above normal PK and Salazar wanted him to have.

It is/was/is a very unique situation.

...

I think Nike will regret not signing Andrews. They totally missed the kids upside and marketability...

Rupp is good but he is nothing compared to the kid from Bernard's. He ate 24 racks of ribs, 35 lbs of butter, 109 snicker bars, 38 locos tacos, shotgunned 14 four lokos and fought through one of the worst side stitches in history to run a courageous 1012 at the Bernard's invitational in 08. Everyone can talk about rupp and Andrews but we know who the real athlete is.