Joey Berriatua dropped by Sponsors + Tinman Elite

To be fair he probably never deserved any sponsorship amongst other pros who run much faster without sponsorship

Who?

I don't necessarily disagree with your assessment of Tinman Elite's demise, but I also feel that their waning popularity was merely an outcome of the passage of time. Their original niche was high school and maybe college-aged boys who were obsessed with running and had romantic (in the literary sense) visions of going all-in on big dreams, betting on themselves, grinding with their bros, and chasing audacious goals for which the uncertainty of ever meeting them was part of the appeal. Add ~6 years of life experience, college internships, and the pressures of the 2025 job market, and a lot of former TME fans probably have other things on their mind most of the time. They likely still feel affection/appreciation for the passion that running brought them in their teenage years, but watching for a new TME merch drop isn't necessarily on their radar anymore. The guys who idolized Parsons, Berriatua, and Barazza at ages 16/17 likely have different role models now at age 23. That doesn't mean Berriatua et. al. necessarily made missteps; their original fans are just growing up and evolving, so that the former playbook is less enthralling now.

I'd also add that his blog post seems to demonstrate the mismatch between people having an interest in something and people having dollars to spend. Loads of people (I'm currently one of them) really enjoy following pro running, but can't currently justify spending much on nutrition supplements or other gear outside of decent shoes. That's less a marketing failure than it is just an economic reality, particularly for the 20-somethings that likely comprise the bulk of TME's fanbase.

I don't follow him and have no clue what supplements or other items he was promoting. That said, I do know some runners do promote brands/items that I do buy. When I need more of whatever it is, I go to my favorite online running store and order. Sometimes if I'm at my favorite bricks and mortar running store, I pick some up. I very rarely go to a product specific website to buy an item, especially if I can avoid shipping fees going elsewhere. Now I'm wondering how many other sponsored athletes are hurt by affiliate link usage/nonusage, and also questioning how realistic it is for sponsors to base their entire analysis on affiliate link purchases. It's a fair data point they can easily quantify, but I wonder what part of the story it misses.

I appreciate him discussing these numbers.

What letsrun doesn't get is for 95% of pros it isn't about how fast you run! These are the numbers that matter. Brands need to see return on their investment!

You need to be playing the social media game.

I liked what he wrote, but I think the influencer/athlete dynamic is a bit overplayed. After every Olympic cycle people get dropped and/or reduced while planning for the next 4 years. A lot of the Tinman guys will be mid-30’s come LA2028. Seems like a brand-backed group or two seems to die off every cycle.

The real shame here is there’s not a healthy ecosystem for pros. If you win a (non-Diamond league) pro meet and hit a world standard I’m not sure if you’d even get an Instagram post. If you did get one, it’d pale compared to the engagement for some (debatably lesser) accomplishment from a HS/college kid. So pros feel like they need to be content creators to get eyeballs and keep their sponsorships.

You’re essentially a human billboard for your sponsors. Unfortunately, running is not a very popular sport. These guys need to get creative about how to market themselves. Most of them think just running and living a hermit life lifestyle is enough. It’s not.

legit no idea who he is but looked it up and never was an NCAA qualifier at Santa Clara in steeple (his main event) and has shown steady progress in that event (from 8:52 in college to 8:20 last year post oly trials) but nothing else sticks out as being remotely competitive on a national level... the kind of guy you'd like to cheer for it seems and that 8:20 steeple isn't bad at all on a national level but seems overall ability is limiting ... 7:47, 3:57, 13:38

a lot tougher for a guy to do so who wasn't any sort of house hold name in college and went to a non traditional running school... 0x national qualifier, just a grinder who has kept at it and finishing 7th in olympic trials is kind of coming into it relative to what he did in college... sucks for him to be getting a lot out of what he's got and still get dropped.

Good readin' from Joeybags. Think too many people on here get caught up in "how many shoes is X athlete sellin'" and all that. Dudes in pro runnin' definitely have a lot to offer a brand outside of runnin' fast. Hell, Craig Engles ain't been on top of the US 1500 scene in 6 years and ain't gettin' younger but the dude knows how to tell his story. I'll give Eric Holt a shoutout too cuz the dude got that Puma deal by tellin' his story and makin' people pay attention! We ain't all wearin' Puma Deviate Nitros now but Puma's now got that lil piece of storytellin' that they're willin' to take a chance on the unsponsored dude at the trials and make dreams come true or whatever.

Anymore, you essentially need to put up Mantz/Nuguse/Sisson level performances to get that next contract as good or better than the expiring one and to get worthwhile bonuses. Or have above average NPD to push to produce constant content to get attention on socials. Which almost no distance runners have, for better or worse.

I think these sponsors who dropped Joey made a mistake. Joey was the epitome of a grinder who patiently worked his way down to some legitimate steeple times. He was very very consistent in 2024. An inspiration to those who paid attention to his progress. I hope he does find a way to keep running professionally, as he obviously has talent. I was looking forward to seeing him running 8:15 or faster in 2025. Damm.

820 steeple/747 3000

He got sponsored for running which is elite level status, he can say he was amongst the best of the best in the sport, but those are not the times that generate fandom or get people excited when the top athlete is running 30 seconds faster for 3000. He'd have needed a breakthrough to maintain his sponsorship. Hopefully he keeps at it and does get that breakthrough.

dude come on

he sucks

he just sucks!

not good!

RIP Tinman Elite

This was never a legitimate pro team to begin with, just one pro runner (Hunter) who hosted a dozen of his bum jobless friends in his house. I too thought it was cool when I was 16, not as much now when I know guys like that in real life who can't move on from college.

Why is Joey smiling?

Joey

But they sign autographs.