which is based on Emma saying at the start of her instagram post, "Since my fueling company dropped me after telling them I was pregnant" https://www.instagram.com/p/DW...
UCAN told Front Office Sports, "The partnership decisions for 2026 were made in September 2025 as a part of regular business planning and before any knowledge of her pregnancy. We made an effort to continue working with Emma under a new agreement, but she ultimately chose not to move forward with that option."
LetsRun.com changed the tile from "UCAN drops Emma Bates due to pregnancy"
It is such a damn shame that this board is just seemingly completely incapable of holding a substantive discussion without devolving into old men shaking their fists at clouds. This might as well be a Facebook comments section. Ridiculous.
Anyway, the NY Times/Athletic has picked this up. Link here:
Key quote from all this: "Matt Sonnenfeldt of the Flynn Sports Management, the agency which represents Bates, denied UCan’s version of events and told Front Office Sports: “We were in discussions after September. They made an offer in December and then changed it.” The Athletic has contacted FSM for comment."
I think this is significant. As an agent, I would think Sonnenfeldt would be more concerned about maintaining a good relationship with the brands that pay his agent fee as opposed to the athletes themselves - unless he felt that the brand in question had done something wrong. For him to publicly side with Bates and air UCan out is substantive. The accusation here is substantive and based on an actual timeline of events, not some vague moralistic handwaving.
That's not how it works. Said agent works for the athlete and will spin the narrative in their favor to protect their client from getting blacklisted c/o reckless SM commentary. The self-interest is evident. Agents aren't the paragon of integrity and the NYT is simply a mouthpiece here.
I never said agents are guided by integrity. I just think its a bit more complicated than that.
Agents work for athletes, yes, but an agent's salary is determined by the deals that their athletes get - usually a percentage basis. An agent can have a bunch of high-level athletes, but without contracts from companies like UCan, neither the athletes nor the agents get paid.
For Sonnenfeldt to openly call out UCan, he has to know that he's burning that bridge to some extent. He knows he's putting that relationship on the line and will make it more difficult to get any of his athletes a deal with them in the future. That directly affects his bottom line.
So my point is that he must feel he has a pretty good reason to state this stuff on the record and contradict their timeline of events.
The amount of damage she has done to the brand is insane. This morning scrolling IG I saw at least 5 posts with dozens of comments about how UCAN is more immoral than IDF
and I love a witch-hunt as much the next person
She's only proven what a mistake it was to sponsor her in the first place. Her strategy seems to be to send a threatening message to her CURRENT sponsors, ("I will do damage to your brand if you drop me") and she doesn't plan to ever get new ones.
The amount of damage she has done to the brand is insane. This morning scrolling IG I saw at least 5 posts with dozens of comments about how UCAN is more immoral than IDF
and I love a witch-hunt as much the next person
She's only proven what a mistake it was to sponsor her in the first place. Her strategy seems to be to send a threatening message to her CURRENT sponsors, ("I will do damage to your brand if you drop me") and she doesn't plan to ever get new ones.
exactly this. Emma Bates is essentially the American Eileen Gu. They're both hot, sociopathic ice queens who constantly attack others while playing the victim card. It's pathetic, really
Poor choice of action from Bates. This makes her look both toxic and mercenary if she returns after giving birth.
Becoming a mom is also going to change her brand and marketability. Sadly, no more sexy IG posts (“Going to Bosshard Girls Night. Should I wear this clinging micro dress with stripper heels or this tiny Catholic schoolgirl mini with patent leather thigh high boots and fishnets?”) nor will shotgunning a finish line Modelo be celebrated.
We shall see if she learns and grows during her time in the pregnancy wilderness.
UCAN dropped Emma Bates bc she’s pregnant, per IG. Was she done dirty?
WTF!!!
She's a freakin' 34 year old marathoner, and comes across like she's 24 years old and is the reigning Olympic Champion, AND, she aint runnin' again for another 18 months!, AND, who knows how good she'll be. Talk about entitled.
Message to Emma:
You should be taking ANY sponsorship deal you can. If I was UCAN, you'd be lucky to get free product, let alone any money.
Honest question, since I haven't really bothered to follow Emma over the years - what has she done in the past to attack others or play the victim card? I really only know about her super long post race recaps and her tearfully withdrawing from the 2024 trials despite being a contender to make the team.
UCAN dropped Emma Bates bc she’s pregnant, per IG. Was she done dirty?
WTF!!!
She's a freakin' 34 year old marathoner, and comes across like she's 24 years old and is the reigning Olympic Champion, AND, she aint runnin' again for another 18 months!, AND, who knows how good she'll be. Talk about entitled.
Message to Emma:
You should be taking ANY sponsorship deal you can. If I was UCAN, you'd be lucky to get free product, let alone any money.
seriously. she's a mid, over the hill runner who got free gels, that's it. she's acting like she's an olympian in her prime who can't pay the bills now
Someone asked him about the UCAN situation and he said "Who said anything about Emma?"
He is not wrong. For people who work by marketing their bodies, e.g., modeling, a significant transformation in the shape of their body or their ability to do things of mutual interest with their body is fair game to take into account in contracting. Unless the arrangement is practically a full-time employment masquerading as a contract, that is.
If traditional job security with benefits and protections is what you want, go get a professional degree in college and a traditional employment.
The amount of damage she has done to the brand is insane. This morning scrolling IG I saw at least 5 posts with dozens of comments about how UCAN is more immoral than IDF
and I love a witch-hunt as much the next person
Do they realize that Ucan is a female owned/founded company?
Giving her the benefit of the doubt, Emma made a mistake, she was probably upset because of the low offer she received and used poor judgement in her comments. She should apologize. And yes, a small female brand suing a pregnant female athlete that defamed them is not nearly as bad as if it were Nike.
She's a freakin' 34 year old marathoner, and comes across like she's 24 years old and is the reigning Olympic Champion, AND, she aint runnin' again for another 18 months!, AND, who knows how good she'll be. Talk about entitled.
Message to Emma:
You should be taking ANY sponsorship deal you can. If I was UCAN, you'd be lucky to get free product, let alone any money.
seriously. she's a mid, over the hill runner who got free gels, that's it. she's acting like she's an olympian in her prime who can't pay the bills now
How much do you think UCAN was paying her? Probably not much, not the hill to die on unless you have cash flow problems …
Honest question, since I haven't really bothered to follow Emma over the years - what has she done in the past to attack others or play the victim card? I really only know about her super long post race recaps and her tearfully withdrawing from the 2024 trials despite being a contender to make the team.
Maybe UCAN would have continued the relationship if she mentioned UCAN once in her post-race recaps. “Thanks to UCAN, I was top American!” Even tho that hasn’t happened in a while.
Without knowing the full story I just want to say I don’t like how our society/ media work. It runs on outrage and with incomplete facts.
This is the most famous she will ever be, this story was picked up by every media outlet possible. She could have won a marathon major and received less attention.
Sadly it seems like a trend that athletes towards the end of their careers do get bitter and the way to stay relevant is to join the outrage attention machine. It works, they could do something positive and no one would care.
Some other carb paste brand will jump on this opportunity to be the good guys!
For Sonnenfeldt to openly call out UCan, he has to know that he's burning that bridge to some extent. He knows he's putting that relationship on the line and will make it more difficult to get any of his athletes a deal with them in the future. That directly affects his bottom line.
So my point is that he must feel he has a pretty good reason to state this stuff on the record and contradict their timeline of events.
Bottom line, that athlete's contract with the company ran until Dec 31. The company had offered a renewal at a reduced rate -- as is their prerogative, as they did with other athletes on expiring contracts -- and the athlete's team declined to accept it (as is their prerogative). Happens with many athletes & companies every year.
But for that athlete to claim on social media 3 months later that they'd been "dropped" by the company is disingenuous at best. To then watch the pitchfork armies assemble, and offer no clarification... that's evil.
The amount of damage she has done to the brand is insane. This morning scrolling IG I saw at least 5 posts with dozens of comments about how UCAN is more immoral than IDF
and I love a witch-hunt as much the next person
She's only proven what a mistake it was to sponsor her in the first place. Her strategy seems to be to send a threatening message to her CURRENT sponsors, ("I will do damage to your brand if you drop me") and she doesn't plan to ever get new ones.
Sadly a lot of companies are immediately rushing in to be the "savior" of this situation. She has a lot of brands in the comment section saying they will be reaching out to her. So she is profiting off this drama. I know UCAN won't but i wish they would sue the snot out of her. With the amount of comments saying "Boycott UCAN" I would assume it would be pretty easy to prove she caused harm to the company.