Meb says Boston didn't make an offer

XCNATION wrote:

I bet Brian Carmichal is cashing a check larger than what they offer guys to run Boston. They have the money.

I'm sure John Hancock has lots of money. I'm also sure that they have a budget for the Boston Marathon. I'm not sure what your point is.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I can't believe the hysteria here. We have heard one side of the story from one interested party. Suddenly John Hancock is evil personified. We have no idea of the content or context of any discussions.

Agreed. There are so many uninformed, extreme opinions stated on this thread that I don't even know where to start. I guarantee that it wasn't like, "Sorry Meb, we're not giving you a single cent to race here. Deal with it."

you are probably right but what if there is proof they knew months before they weren't going to make an offer but kept him in the hook by putting it off as long as they could so he can just run for free?

speculating wrote:

you are probably right but what if there is proof they knew months before they weren't going to make an offer but kept him in the hook by putting it off as long as they could so he can just run for free?

Can you please spin out a legal theory under which something like that is actionable? I really would like to hear it.

I think alot of people might have been pissed off if Meb had won instead of Ryan so the smart thing for Boston to do is shut Meb out of the race. Interesting theory huh!

why pay 200k plus a hotel room and amenities for a full 10 days before the race for Meb? Plus limo to pick him up? You can give that money to 3-4 Ramaala types with 2:08 PRs who will push for record setting pace and maybe 1 of the 4 either wins the race or places top 3. This is Boston's way of saying to Meb that he costs too much for too little in return. Its economics and he is being put out to pasture. Its cruel but its business and by stating this stuff out loud, Meb has thrown BAA under the bus and ensured they will not work together again. Bad move. Isn't Meb's brother a lawyer? He should have advised Meb to keep his mouth shut and rise above it. Business is business

I think Meb would have been perfectly ok with that and would have focused on running PB in London or elsewhere if they had said we are not interested. But that isn't the case, they showed much interest verbally with Meb coming out empt handed. Last i checked it was Meb who returned the investment of NYRR and Running USA not Ryan Hall.

Kara Goucher but not Meb? A person just coming off pregnancy but not one of this country's greatest marathoners?

I've thought about this for a while, and I can see no viable reason why Hancock didn't want Meb.

Wilford Brimley wrote:

I've thought about this for a while, and I can see no viable reason why Hancock didn't want Meb.

When people say it's not about the money they are lying. It is always about the money. We don't know whether Meb is telling the truth or not but it really doesn't matter. Often in negotiations there is a lot of indirect signaling and discussions way before a formal offer is made.

Posters are acting like they are 12 and have absolutely no experience or knowledge of how any negotiations are conducted.

When this comes out in mainstream media BAA true colors will show. This thing is about to get ugly.

It sounds like BAA needs to attend negotiation 101 seminar. How can you justify not making an offer and stating you are very interested. That can tick anybody off. Please get some experience.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Often in negotiations there is a lot of indirect signaling and discussions way before a formal offer is made.

Posters are acting like they are 12 and have absolutely no experience or knowledge of how any negotiations are conducted.

I agree. I'm amazed by the naivete of many of the posters on this matter. Even the San Diego newspaper, asserting that Meb was not "invited" to run the race, seems to have bought Meb's suggestion that it was Boston's failure to "invite" him or make him an offer, rather than the gap between the parties' negotiating positions, that has left him out of the race field.

I'll bet that some of the people at John Hancock are just dying to tell what really happened during negotiations, but John Hancock has little to gain, and much to lose, by opening up its negotiations with individual athletes to public scrutiny and debate about the relative merits of the parties' respective positions. That leaves Meb free to put his public relations spin on the negotiations without contradiction by the other party. In the short term, that may work in his favor, since he apparently has a lot of fans who are uneducated about these matters, but I can imagine that some race organizers and sponsors are going to take note of his decision to go public with his grievances about presumably confidential negotiations and steer clear of him in the future.

Big Elephant wrote:

If that is the case then crazy for the organizers to agree. I was watching the videos on Meb's website and i go goose bumps watching the MEB Inspirational Video. Such an inspiring Fellow. Glad he is still in the sport.

http://marathonmeb.com/photo-gallery/video/

You know they're putting on a race in Boston and not a film festival, right?

BAA wrote:

It sounds like BAA needs to attend negotiation 101 seminar. How can you justify not making an offer and stating you are very interested. That can tick anybody off. Please get some experience.

Once upon a time I was house hunting. After seeing a particular house I indicated to my agent (and assume the agent indicated to the seller) that I was very interested in it. I was very interested. I never made an offer. I ended up finding a house I liked more. Did it tick the seller off? I don't know, but only a very stupid seller would be counting on an offer simply because I indicated that I was interested and sitting around doing nothing else to sell the house.

Meb has every right to express his disappoint in the Boson Marathon. There was no negotiation because it seems that there was no offer from Boston for 2011 despite efforts made by Meb and his team. His fans have a right to know why he isn't running a spring marathon like Boston.

This is AMAZING! I have never seen such so much fake support from insiders on letsrun before.

Something inside the Meb camp must really need this whole "BAA/JH are evil" story to live as long as possible.

BAA wrote:

It sounds like BAA needs to attend negotiation 101 seminar. How can you justify not making an offer and stating you are very interested. That can tick anybody off. Please get some experience.

"Unlike at other major marathons, John Hancock both funds and recruits the Boston's elite field."

That is fine too but the seller and buyer have every right to express how they feel.

BAA wrote:

That is fine too but the seller and buyer have every right to express how they feel.

This is true. Both have that right. I have not disputed that. I just don't see how people can make judgments and be up in arms after only knowing and hearing from one person.

I also think, that while Meb has that right, it is not a smart thing to do. He is going to burn bridges in a small community.