We’re going to see a ton of Nike spikes at the Olympic Trials. Brooks says its runners can wear other company's spikes

I really wanted to tune in wrote:
This shows total weakness, not strength, on the part of Brooks and On. Make no mistake about this. Brooks, you are a shoe company. You are not a running team.
As to Rojo’s argument, he’s wrong. This will have the reverse consequence. Upcoming athletes looking to sign pro deals won’t take Brooks or On seriously. This is the big leagues. If you make an inferior product, why even consider it?
I applaud adidas and ASICS for holding the line. Doesn’t seem to be hurting their athletes too much. A couple of indoor world records this winter (adidas), some road victories, and their track stars are doing great.
What an unforced error for Brooks and On. They’re done. They have just admitted that they are a second rate brand that can’t keep up. And it’s not like they couldn’t have seen this coming since 2016.

Neither Brooks nor On are "done". They sell shoes to the masses, including lots of hobby joggers and more serious, but not even regionally competitive runners. Those people will buy the shoes that work for them on the roads, which is where they run, and don't really care whether the company provides spikes to their running club. For them, the companies' sponsorship of an elite team is just a sign that the company is promoting the sport. Note that most people running in On were running in On shoes before they even formed OAC.

I'm currently running in Nike shoes, but the quality of their spikes is irrelevant to me.

I really wanted to tune in wrote:
Athletes that cash checks from shoe companies should compete in said shoes. It’s that simple. If they don’t, the athletes just look like hypocrites for endorsing the brand and the company just comes off as pathetic.
And you can absolutely be certain the shoe marketing “wizards” at Brooks and On are following this thread.
The only athletes in a tough spot here are college athletes that are handcuffed to a shoe deal they have no say in. College athletes should make the switch to the super spikes. They run for their University, not a shoe company.

The last paragraph of this post is interesting to me. I've always wondered and even asked on a thread once:

Although we know that a school has a contract with a shoe company, does the individual athlete? What if they're the full scholarship type as opposed to a random walk-on? The question I posed on a thread a while ago was, What if a high-profile runner (one who's going to be on camera) steps to the line in a shoe NOT from the school's sponsor? So here's King Ches going for his 17th title, on the line with asics on. What would happen? There would be phone calls and a stern talking-to from Nike exec to coach, from coach to athlete, and maybe another, but no legal action is possible, right?

Those of you who ran in NCAA, let me ask you if you signed anything about this. Those on scholarships? Any actual contract signed? I never ran NCAA but plenty of you are reading this did and many of you got paid to do so (should have been paid more but that's another thread). The point is, I don't know much about or closely follow this NIco guy, just as a single example - seems to be good, but my knowledge isn't much broader. One of the few things I DO know is that he was prior to college, and ironically still, given the school's sponsor, a died-in-the-wool Nike enthusiast. There is no possibility in my mind he signs with anyone else once he's done with the college scene. So, he's allowed to race in them. Or maybe we should say, can't be stopped from wearing them. At any rate, we know he wears Nike and there's a picture of him holding a pair that surfaced on another thread. Is this against anything contractual? What if you simply don't play ball with the school's deal and ignore coach, athletic director, etc?

Current and former collegiate runners, fill us in, because I know it's interesting to many readers, myself included, especially after it surfaced that guys from 'adidas schools' (whatever that means) are wearing the Swoosh.

We’re going to see a ton of Nike spikes at the Olympic Trials. Brooks says its runners can wear other company's spikes

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