Saucony drops Brannen

To be clear, he didn't get "dropped". His contract just wasn't renewed. They didn't renew it because they think that PR was probably his last and the money going to him could be better spent elsewhere. They're running a business, not a charity.

Also, what Brannen gets from Saucony is a heck of a lot different from what your friends get. Brannen got at least some of the following: gear, a paycheck, travel money, race bonuses. The "local" Saucony people get free stuff(and many just get discounts) because it's very good advertising. If a guy in a race is wearing Saucony shoes then I probably won't notice them. If he's wearing Saucony shoes, Saucony shorts, Saucony singlet, Saucony arm warmers, and a Saucony hat then everyone will notice and think about the brand. I guarantee they get a much better return on their dollar from those guys than from Brannen.

It's because the people there blow. From the woman who manages PR to the dipsh!t they have working with the athletes. The guy has a night job as a bouncer/ID checker at a bar and will sometimes show up late or very tired for races b/c he's been working the door at the bar until 3am. Kind of a joke of a company when it comes to athlete relations.

Whathefvk wrote:

So let me get this straight. He runs a pr this year and looks to be in his best form ever. Even with the disaster of falling, he was in the olympic semifinal - and that incident made him even more well known to many. WTF is Saucony thinking? Meanwhile I know friends who are "local" frontrunners who get boxes and boxes from Saucony.

Wow, what planet are Suckony (and you) living on? here is a guy who ran a 1500 pr and a 1000 national record. Very few people were disputing that he would make that final. When he fell he got back up, it was a story of tenacity, tragedy, sorrow, it's all there, and he stated he'd commit to 2016. You cannot get any better than that with a world class runner and an "angle", and a guy who is pure class all the way, to boot. And in this moment of great drama, they don't renew. These guys have their heads very very far up their bums.

r u kidding me? wrote:

Wow, what planet are Suckony (and you) living on?

Brannen is a great runner, but can you clearly explain how it is in Saucony's financial interest to put $20,000 - $50,000 (or more, I have no idea the contract value) per year towards him?

So you, myself and a few hundred other letsrunners know who he is and are impressed with his accomplishments. Does that give Saucony a good return on their investment?

Would your average sports fan be able to identify who he is or what he's done? What visibility has he had beyond the relatively limited North American track market? Keep in mind that market already has more visible athletes such as Hall or Ritz (or Levins and Coolsaet if you're looking at Candians).

Can you make his story of tenacity be more noteworthy than Coolsaet's? What about Levins' epic mileage?

If not, then it is understandable why Saucony is looking for better investments for their marketing dollar.

Although I don't think most of you are quite understanding that Saucony is a business, I agree that they(and many other shoe companies) have their heads firmly planted in their asses. Prior to the Olympics Saucony was making a big PR push about being a small company dedicated to their athletes and then they have Brannen saying that he's dumbfounded about why he wasn't renewed. It seems that either Brannen has unrealistic expectations about his 3:34 PB at 30 years old, Saucony hasn't done their job in communicating expectations, or both.

That doesn't look like a great progression - even knowing that he was injured badly at one time - for a shoe company to be impressed (1.5sec in almost 10 years). He is not fast enough to be also good in the 800m (has he improved on his 1.46.00 from College? he ran 1.46.6 as an age group Junior), and yet shows no range to 5000m either (as has Webb, who was his roommie at Michigan I believe). One trick Pony really. Even with the National 1000m record, he shows no potential to break Sullivan's records at 1500m/mile. Unfortunate fall in London, but previously Sullivan and Hood both made Olympic Finals at earlier ages. Brannen is getting old for the 1500/mile. Saucony is seeing that as well.

Up until now, most years I'd spend a couple hundred dollars on Saucony shoes. Because of them dropping Brannen, I'm switching brands. If there are a hundred other runners out there who feel the same way, Saucony will lose for their idiocy.

I think he has a 3:32 in him, and a pr 800. Saucony clearly has no sense of trajectory/potential. Dropping him now says a hell of a lot about their philosophy.

r u kidding me? wrote:

I think he has a 3:32 in him, and a pr 800. Saucony clearly has no sense of trajectory/potential. Dropping him now says a hell of a lot about their philosophy.

The Olympics play a big role in who gets resigned and who doesn't. It the biggest possible stage for the athletes, and if you don't perform, you don't get renewed. You can talk about potential when the guy is 22 and fresh out of school, but if he's 30 and habitually injured, it's either put up or shut up.

Brannen didn't perform up to expectations at the Olympics. Sure it was due to the fall, but he didn't make the final and wasn't a player. Track nerds will note how he ran a PB this year and now holds an obscure national record, but he didn't do anything on the international scene.

One of Saucony's other recent signees, Duane Solomon, had a great season and a great Olympics. He's not getting dropped, and I bet he ended up with a nice bonus to boot.

Saucony has new owners, who I'm sure would like to see more profitability, so maybe they've tightened the athlete marketing budget.

Other than Duane Soloman, I would be curious to know what Saucony athletes under contract performed better than Brennan.

Bill1234567 wrote:

Other than Duane Soloman, I would be curious to know what Saucony athletes under contract performed better than Brennan.

Last year, Dee Dee Trotter.

Not just limiting things to last year, Molly Huddle and Wallace Spearmon.

I'm surprised that they didn't renew Brannen after a good year but I don't get the impression that Saucony is very serious about supporting professional athletes.

screw Saucony wrote:

Up until now, most years I'd spend a couple hundred dollars on Saucony shoes. Because of them dropping Brannen, I'm switching brands. If there are a hundred other runners out there who feel the same way, Saucony will lose for their idiocy.

I hope you're kidding

Maybe be out of date, but this list is from Wikipedia. I filled in what I could, but I'm sure this list is much different now that 2012 is over.

- Wallace Spearmon - fourth in 200 final

- Lauryn Williams - gold medal (ran rounds of 4x100)

- Adam Nelson - "earned" a gold medal

- Deedee Trotter - bronze medal

- Tianna Madison - gold medal

- Monzavous Edwards

- Jessica Young

- Keisha Baker

- Queen Harrison

- Jeremy Hall

- Ryan Wilson

- Porscha Lucas

- Duane Solomon - fourth in 800 final

- LaKya Brookins

- Molly Huddle - 11th in 5000 final

- Terrell Wilks

- Jacob Norman

- Nikki Hamblin

- Derval O'Rourke - made semifinals of 100h

- Aleesha Barber

Bill1234567 wrote:

Other than Duane Soloman, I would be curious to know what Saucony athletes under contract performed better than Brennan.

Wallace Spearmon was 4th in the 200. Lauryn Williams ran the qualifying round for the gold medal 4x100 and 4x200 teams. Adam Nelson was just awarded his gold medal from 2004. DeeDee Trotter won the bronze in the 400 and gold in the 4x400. Tianna Madison was 4th in the 100 and gold in the 4x100. Molly Huddle was 11th in the 5,000.

I have no idea who else they sponsor because the "athletes" section of their website is so old it still has Nate Jenkins on it. That's probably indicative of how the rest of the company is run.

This is the impression, and we can debate all day about how good an oly semi is vice the oly gold. The fact is, they dropped a guy who has been at this for years, might still run faster, and who now has a fresh "story". It just doesn't look good on saucony.

adkaladslksda wrote:

I'm surprised that they didn't renew Brannen after a good year but I don't get the impression that Saucony is very serious about supporting professional athletes.

Um, no. wrote:

This is the impression, and we can debate all day about how good an oly semi is vice the oly gold. The fact is, they dropped a guy who has been at this for years, might still run faster, and who now has a fresh "story". It just doesn't look good on saucony.

Why do you guys have to make Saucony out to be a bad guy? They never had to support Brannen in the first place. But they did. And who knows why they didn't renew his contract. Maybe he wanted an increase in money. Maybe the company is in financial trouble and had to cut costs. Remember, it's a business not a charity. How much value is Brannen really bringing them?

ttff wrote:

Um, no. wrote:

This is the impression, and we can debate all day about how good an oly semi is vice the oly gold. The fact is, they dropped a guy who has been at this for years, might still run faster, and who now has a fresh "story". It just doesn't look good on saucony.

Why do you guys have to make Saucony out to be a bad guy? They never had to support Brannen in the first place. But they did. And who knows why they didn't renew his contract. Maybe he wanted an increase in money. Maybe the company is in financial trouble and had to cut costs. Remember, it's a business not a charity. How much value is Brannen really bringing them?

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Good points. He is Canadian , not sure of his impact in Canadian market if at all. Not much impact to US market as he remains unimportant , we have a good crop of US milers getting it done. Signing and or dropping of athletes believe it or not have little impact on wether Joe Runner buys a shoe or not. I doubt sales at Saucony dipped on this news of Brannen not getting renewed.

Saucony has put money back into the sport , they have established a presence with a well rounded group of athletes across a number of events.

My guess is they lowered his base , agent thinks they can do better , bottom line is they will settle for less or nothing at all if ego's get in the way.

r u kidding me? wrote:

Very few people were disputing that he would make that final.

Ridiculous statement.