I’ve talked to a few athletes who’ve been involved with this new “team” called Meridia, run by Colleen Quigley, and there are some red flags. Figured it was worth putting everything out here so people and brands know what’s really going on.
Ambassador Product Redistribution
Quigley is an ambassador for several big brands (WHOOP, lululemon, hyperice, and others). According to athletes, products she received through those brand partnerships were handed out to athletes and later used as leverage when those athletes tried to leave.
In the emails I included, these items were presented as gifts then used as justification to continue using athletes’ names, images, and likenesses in promotional material. When athletes objected, she demanded repayment for the products and coupled those demands with threats of legal action.
Lack of Athlete Consent and Contracts
None of the athletes who agreed to be part of the team ever signed contracts, meaning there was no legal agreement granting permission for their names, images, or likenesses to be used on social media. This also means the athletes weren't paid for appearing in posts, didn’t get any kind of compensation for their involvement with the team, and are legally entitled to request that Quigley remove any content featuring their image.
In two separate cases, athletes who never consented to join were still featured publicly on the team’s Instagram page as if they were official members. Quigley reportedly said she wanted to “leave the door cracked open.”
Athlete Departures
In the span of only four months, at least 3 athletes have already cut ties with the team. To me, that's an alarming rate of departures for something that’s supposed to be "supportive" and "made for athletes". Athletes who have left have described being threatened with lawsuits, pressured to sign nondisclosure agreements, and ordered to repay the value of products they never asked for and were told were gifts. Despite these departures, Quigley has refused to remove photos and promotional content featuring the athletes, even though no contracts were ever signed granting permission for their names, images, or likenesses to be used.
Emails and Financial Demands
For context on the emails included below: the “Meridia Mile” was a fundraiser event, and the money raised through everyone’s joint efforts was divided among the athletes on the team. The athletes were never compensated for social media posts or appearances, and no contracts exist stating that they would be.
Despite this, after athletes left the team and asked to no longer be used in promotional material, Colleen sent emails demanding repayment for the gifts and products they had received during that time. In those emails, she outlined “options” that essentially forced athletes to either return the gifts (requiring they be unopened) or pay back their full cash value. In those same emails, Quigley included a detailed spreadsheet outlining the gifted products, along with receipts showing she had used her ambassador gift cards to obtain them. The spreadsheet and receipts she sent in her email are also below.
My questions:
Do ambassador deals actually let someone hand out free products and then turn around and charge people for them later?
Should these brands know their product is being used to pressure athletes or keep using their photos after they’ve left?
Why is it okay to threaten athletes with legal action over gifts, especially when there were never any contracts in the first place?
Have other teams had issues like this?
It’s crazy that a small team run by a lesser known former Olympian has this much chaos. If this is what’s happening here, what’s going on with other teams with bigger names? Athletes should be able to walk away without getting hit with legal threats over free gear!!!
Emails, spreadsheet, and receipts sent by Quigley to athletes can be found here