Not sure how to feel about this. On one hand if I was currently an elite high school runner I would be very excited. But on the other and it feels kind of gross to incentive high school kids with money. High school running should be for fun, not for tens of thousands of dollars.
When you're THAT good, every sport quickly becomes in large part about the money, even before highschool.
Lawyer is likely right. Nevertheless, GREAT marketing as at least the high school kids are talking about a brand that is not as well known.
Langon doesn't even wear these spikes himself. He wore dragonflys for his recent workout vid and the BU 5k. Why isn't Diadora paying him to wear them? He's their athlete.
Here wears them in all workouts , I call your BS. Post the video 🤔
they get paid for their name, image, etc after their performance
In reality it's just pay to play / pay for performance but cloaked in such a way it's fine
You don’t get to launder pay-for-performance by delaying the check. NIL legality is determined by the reason the compensation exists, not the timing of when the money is paid. If the deal only triggers because an athlete hits a performance mark
This is where you're confused, and how they will get away with this. No deal is being triggered by the performance mark. The deal is being offered after the performance is achieved.
There will be nothing performance related in the actual offer/contract.
With few exceptions (influencers) practically all NIL is only offered to top performers. This isn't much different, they're just saying they'll offer it up to this specific mark.
The distinction that it's to the first athlete to run 4:00 WHILE WEARING THEIR SHOES is the only part that could prove problematic. If it was an open offer to the next sub 4 miler to take the money and wear their shoes going forward there'd be no avenue to attack it.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
You don’t get to launder pay-for-performance by delaying the check. NIL legality is determined by the reason the compensation exists, not the timing of when the money is paid. If the deal only triggers because an athlete hits a performance mark
This is where you're confused, and how they will get away with this. No deal is being triggered by the performance mark. The deal is being offered after the performance is achieved.
There will be nothing performance related in the actual offer/contract.
With few exceptions (influencers) practically all NIL is only offered to top performers. This isn't much different, they're just saying they'll offer it up to this specific mark.
The distinction that it's to the first athlete to run 4:00 WHILE WEARING THEIR SHOES is the only part that could prove problematic. If it was an open offer to the next sub 4 miler to take the money and wear their shoes going forward there'd be no avenue to attack it.
Changing when the paper is signed doesn’t change why the athlete ran. Pre-announcing a performance threshold tied to compensation is still pay-for-play, still professional inducement, and still a loss of NCAA eligibility. Calling it “just like NIL” doesn’t make it so, it just makes the violation easier to document.
Langon doesn't even wear these spikes himself. He wore dragonflys for his recent workout vid and the BU 5k. Why isn't Diadora paying him to wear them? He's their athlete.
Here wears them in all workouts , I call your BS. Post the video 🤔
Yup!!! he always wears them for workouts. Let’s see the video
"Marathon Sports and Diadora are offering a $40K NIL agreement to the first high school boy to break 4:00 in the mile and the first high school girl to run under 4:35 while competing in the Mezzofondo distance spike. Hit that mark, and you become eligible to sign a $40,000 NIL contract with us, promoting the spike, telling your story, and becoming the athlete connected to one of the boldest product launches in the sport."
It's pretty clear that running under 4 is just their standard for an NIL deal. All companies do this, the only difference is that the numbers are just public here. New Balance has their numbers for who they consider for an NIL deal and the requisite payment that comes along with it.
Diadora sells middle distance spikes. They want the best middle distance runners to promote them. Hit the standard, you'll get a deal. Seems clear to me.
Either way, different states have different NIL rules. I'm sure this will fly somewhere that isn't Texas or California.
Well as a lawyer who’s dealt with NIL, here are the facts.
NIL compensation cannot be contingent on athletic performance or outcomes.
That means NIL money cannot be based on:
1. Times run 2.Wins or losses 3.Placements (e.g., podiums, championships) 4.Statistical achievements 45Making lineups, starting, or earning scholarships 6.Team success tied to participation 7.If payment depends on how well an athlete 8.performs, that is pay-for-play, which is prohibited.
What IS Allowed:
NIL deals must be tied to NIL activities, such as:
1.Social media posts 2.Appearances 3.Autograph sessions 4.Camps or clinics 5.Marketing/content creation 6.Licensing name/image/likeness for ads 7.Payment must be for work performed, not results achieved.
Any public statement offering name, image, and likeness compensation contingent upon the achievement of a specific athletic performance, such as promising a $40,000 NIL deal to the first high school athlete to break four minutes in the mile, constitutes impermissible pay-for-play. NIL compensation must be provided in exchange for bona fide NIL activities (e.g., marketing, appearances, content creation), not conditioned on competitive outcomes, athletic results, or performance benchmarks. The characterization of such an offer as a “challenge,” “bonus,” or promotional incentive is legally immaterial; enforcement authorities apply a substance over form analysis. Where compensation is triggered solely by athletic achievement and would not be paid absent that performance, the arrangement violates NCAA interim NIL policy and applicable state NIL statutes prohibiting performance based compensation and improper inducements.
As if Diadora doesn’t have a team of actual lawyers, not ones pretending to be lawyers on letsrun, looking over everything. What a clown, you dropped your bright red nose somewhere.
Well as a lawyer who’s dealt with NIL, here are the facts.
NIL compensation cannot be contingent on athletic performance or outcomes.
That means NIL money cannot be based on:
1. Times run 2.Wins or losses 3.Placements (e.g., podiums, championships) 4.Statistical achievements 45Making lineups, starting, or earning scholarships 6.Team success tied to participation 7.If payment depends on how well an athlete 8.performs, that is pay-for-play, which is prohibited.
What IS Allowed:
NIL deals must be tied to NIL activities, such as:
1.Social media posts 2.Appearances 3.Autograph sessions 4.Camps or clinics 5.Marketing/content creation 6.Licensing name/image/likeness for ads 7.Payment must be for work performed, not results achieved.
Any public statement offering name, image, and likeness compensation contingent upon the achievement of a specific athletic performance, such as promising a $40,000 NIL deal to the first high school athlete to break four minutes in the mile, constitutes impermissible pay-for-play. NIL compensation must be provided in exchange for bona fide NIL activities (e.g., marketing, appearances, content creation), not conditioned on competitive outcomes, athletic results, or performance benchmarks. The characterization of such an offer as a “challenge,” “bonus,” or promotional incentive is legally immaterial; enforcement authorities apply a substance over form analysis. Where compensation is triggered solely by athletic achievement and would not be paid absent that performance, the arrangement violates NCAA interim NIL policy and applicable state NIL statutes prohibiting performance based compensation and improper inducements.
As if Diadora doesn’t have a team of actual lawyers, not ones pretending to be lawyers on letsrun, looking over everything. What a clown, you dropped your bright red nose somewhere.
I don’t think it’s nonsense at all, Diadora wants this, and the negative and positive press that comes with it. This is exactly the kind of exposure companies pay a lot of money for.
He races in Nike because Villanova is a Nike school, so that’s required. Outside of competition, Marco trains exclusively in Diadora, that’s a standard NIL arrangement.
Most of you are missing the point: Diadora has already gotten tons of publicity just for announcing the offer. The chances that someone was going to run 3:59/4:34 in a pair of Diadora's this winter was basically nil, but now it doesn't matter if it happens or not because they've already gotten the publicity they wanted. And they'll probably sell a few more pairs of spikes in the US than they would have otherwise. It's certainly a lot more eye-catching than just saying, 'Hey, we have a new super-spike!' Yawn.
Well y'all won't have to watch long, it shows his spikes in the first 6 seconds. A workout vid posted before BU. And at BU: dragonflys again.
The Spikes are brand new and just available. He has the trainers on and now has the spikes
Gotcha. Well the spikes oughta be nice to justify costing $100 more than adidas, new balance, and nike. All those brands are proven and doing it for less.
Someone (lawyer) weighs in with their expertise as though Diadora doesn't have lawyers on staff and didn't think about whether this NIL deal was going to break rules. Then continues to post over and over again as though he's ready to go to court over it himself. Constant attitude of "you can't do that!" and ignorance of the fact that a kid can just do that and cash the check. Reminds me of people who rage out at me when they hear my kid runs more than 50 miles a week.
Other people fretting over whether some kid will lose their HS eligibility. If I'm in HS and can make $40k for running sub 4, I'm taking the $40k. What is the value of the HS eligibility? I run sub 4 and I'm now going to any college I want to on a full ride, and I have no significant competition in HS. I'm not losing anything by losing my HS eligibility.
Why do we care if kids make money with their talent? It happens in music, acting, other sports, business, YouTube influencers, etc.
I wasn't expecting this thread to explode the way it has - and certainly not into multiple posts questioning the legality of what Diadora want to here, but I think ultimately you have hit the nail here quite succinctly.
Diadora is a $300 million dollar brand. They aren't Nike or adidas, they aren't some rogue startup either. I'm pretty sure that when it comes to outlaying $80k on anything, they are doing some diligence and in this case, on this particular topic which is so new and has many regulations, they know what is or isn't allowed from a legal standpoint.
So the keyboard lawyers can be working overtime hypothesizing what they think they know, I'm pretty sure Diadora (like all brands that do NILs) actually know. Like the brand is going to get themselves into legal hot water over 80k and two high school kids? Good lord.
Not sure how to feel about this. On one hand if I was currently an elite high school runner I would be very excited. But on the other and it feels kind of gross to incentive high school kids with money. High school running should be for fun, not for tens of thousands of dollars.
Sure.. just let them keep scraping by on Waiters wages while they try to do what is still statically one of the rarest athletic feats in all of athletics as a high schooler..
Im sure you’d tell know exactly what they should be doing. SMH
Not sure how to feel about this. On one hand if I was currently an elite high school runner I would be very excited. But on the other and it feels kind of gross to incentive high school kids with money. High school running should be for fun, not for tens of thousands of dollars.
When you're THAT good, every sport quickly becomes in large part about the money, even before high school.
There's a wrestler at my old high school who has been the #1 prospect in the country since he got to high school. He's won international tournaments, he barely missed the last Olympic team, he's had every big time college program wanting him. As a sophomore he got an NIL deal for $1,000,000. I imagine he's having fun too.