Competitor Group Sued For Not Paying "Volunteers"

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Gazed a gazely stare wrote:

Ah yes. Competitor Group. We're talking about the same compassionate people who once served water to marathon participants from open hydrants.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/las-vegas-marathon/las-vegas-marathon-runners-say-they-were-sickened

Still with this crap? Isn't that the same as normal tap water?

Do you routinely drink tap water from plastic garbage containers?

"Unfortunately, we can't be responsible for how people are going to utilize and dispense the water once it gets out of our distribution system," Davis said. "We don't know how well they sanitized the containers. New containers actually emit certain chemicals when mixed with water for the first time. They're not designed as giant drinking glasses."

Cap'n Howdy wrote:

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Still with this crap? Isn't that the same as normal tap water?

Do you routinely drink tap water from plastic garbage containers?

"Unfortunately, we can't be responsible for how people are going to utilize and dispense the water once it gets out of our distribution system," Davis said. "We don't know how well they sanitized the containers. New containers actually emit certain chemicals when mixed with water for the first time. They're not designed as giant drinking glasses."

were the hydrants the problem? My beef was mostly with that statement.

Do RnR events still do it this way? Hydrant water & garbage containers? Good gawd.

And unfortunately, ALL road races (non-profit, for profit, not for profit) will suffer the same fate.

Cap'n Howdy wrote:

[quote]Go for the Gold wrote:

7> It damages the future of Competitor Group's business model.

^ FIXED.

LI Runner wrote:

Mad Mike -

I agree with most of your post, however I think the gist of the lawsuit is that she was 'deceived' (maybe too strong of a word, but nevertheless) into believing she was volunteering for a 'non-profit' cause.

One can argue it was on her to do the proper research to see what she was volunteering for, etc.

Let the courts decide.

Personally, not sure where I stand on whole Competitor issue. One one hand it fills a need for a certain segment of the running/jogging population and if they keep registering obviously the demand is there. On the other hand, they want non-compete clauses from other area races (from what I read on LRC), it lets other races raise their prices and swallows smaller races.

The Cancer Society lawsuit is interesting because it shows that when it is the American Cancer Society Rock N Roll Chicago Marathon that the Cancer Society is paying to sponsor the race not Rock N Roll paying the cancer society. The net flow of money is from Cancer Society to Rock N Roll not the other way around. The Cancer society then presumably sells spots to the race to people who raise money for it.

Then if Rock N Roll solicits volunteers and says it is to benefit the Cancer Society I can see how people find this misleading. I would assume that an extra volunteer benefits Rock N Roll by saving them wages instead of the Cancer Society. Am I missing something?

The way around this I guess would be for the Cancer Society to promise to provide all the volunteers and then for Rock N Roll to pay it a fee for them. This would let Rock N Roll get the labor at a cheaper rate.

The one thing I don't get is why the Cancer Society would pay big bucks to sponsor the race. Do these races sell out? Couldn't they just buy up a bunch of entries at $150 and use them for its charity runners instead of paying Rock N Roll a huge fee to sponsor the race to get entries that ultimately are costing it more than whatever the entry fee are presumably. I guess Rock N Roll could sue them for using the "Rock N Roll" name in marketing materials?

Cap'n Howdy wrote:

Do you routinely drink tap water from plastic garbage containers?

That's what we use at a New York Road Runners races.

I think some of these non-profits are so big, they act like regular for-profit organizations.

Forbes reports the following revenues for:

American Cancer Society - $945M

American Red Cross - $3.12B

Salvation Army - $4.08B

What was the amount ACS paid to Competitor Group for the naming rights?

To set the record straight a non-profit is (taken from Wikipedia):

Designation as a nonprofit does not mean that the organization does not intend to make a profit, but rather that the organization has no owners and that the funds realized in the operation of the organization will not be used to benefit any owners.

Good Grief! wrote:

Go for the Gold wrote:

7> It damages the future of racing.

--Mad Mike

^This

Competitor has cancelled several of their races this year, maybe there is a change in the air? I have always liked quality over quantity.