Symmonds won't sign contract requiring him to wear Nike at all team functions, threatens to sue if USATF kicks him off WC team

It's not entirely true that the athletes don't see any of that money.

Do your research, grants, insurance, training center donations, prize money.

You're dead wrong about the RIAA's point, and the internet law change that has screwed musical artists and songwriters out of Billions in royalties.

So, Brainiac, you think less than $17.00 is a fair royalty return for 1 Million Plays of an artists song?

Gurgle wrote:

In the NY Times article he says he is okay with wearing the uniform at "official team functions [which] include competitions, awards ceremonies and news conferences." He's objecting to wearing them at other times during the championships. I agree that the USATF may be going overboard, but how the hell is he going to monetize wearing Brooks gear while getting coffee in the morning? Brooks is not paying him one cent more for wearing their gear to get breakfast. What they are happy with though is his ability to drum up publicity over this absurd controversy.

Nick is of course getting free publicity for his company. That is what a smart marketer does.

He is also showing the absurdity of someone at USATF telling athletes not to pack non Nike branded gear. Neither side is going to monetize the hotel coffee and that is why it is more absurd someone at USATF suggested that athletes have to wear Nike at a coffee. USATF employees do not work for Nike, they work for USATF. The letter shows how some at USATF do not get it.

But as someone pointed out, Nick can easily go to events in Beijing outside of USATF in Brooks gear or do a videocast from his hotel room.

As shown at the official practice interview (team sport) Lebron is in team gear, that is when he is at an official practice.

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People said adidas and others couldn't pony up the money. Under Armour is growing way faster than Nike and might have had the money to bid vs Nike but I don't think they were given the opportunity.

I spoke to Spencer Nel of adidas earlier this year and he said adidas was very interested in sponsoring USATF, and "we made it clear" to USATF that adidas was interested. USATF then went and signed with Nike without bidding it out to adidas. That happens from time to time but there are questions about whether a non-profit should be doing that, especially a non profit where the CEO's racing team and charity were sponsored by NIke and the now Chair of the Board used to work for Nike. In theory the board signs off on all of this, but Max should have never let Nike sponsor his racing time or his charity (even in a nominal amount( because it reeks of conflict of interest.

SlowFatMaster wrote:

I support Nick.

Shouldn't the Brooks and Nike lawyers be duking this out?

For some reason, this reminds me of the dispute in Quebec against non-bilingual parrots. Both ridiculous.

Thank You!

My new Band just found their Name: "The Non-Bilingual Parrots."

Awesome.

For once, for once be a journalist and veryify Nick's coffee story. It reeks of BS.

Same with the claim about the signs. We've had cameras on our phone for a long time now, you're telling me you can't find on person who took a pic of the sign or even can verify the exists.

Oh please Nick doesnt give a crap about other athletes or the system. He is only concerned with Nick. That's fine but it doesn't make him a noble figure.

He was a nike runner for years and has no problem with restrictions for non-nike runners.

On a Steve Prefontaine doc I saw Nick was quoted as admiring Pre's rebel side - the diff is Steve fought for legitimate causes - and loved to give back to the sport that was his passion - Nick makes lots of bucks thru track - shut up and quit whining and give back to the sport...making a few appearances is something you can survive...unlike the American Ninja course...which wore you out ...

How do people not see the big picture here? Confused why there would be this entrenched reluctance to sympathize with and support the athletes in our sport.

http://getrungum.com/pages/our-commitment

I like a lot in your post as it makes people think but i dont agree with many of yoru conclusions.

The college anaology is a good one. But the idea that here and in college. that the "talent literally sees none of it" is absurd.

Yes they do. In college, they get a free scholarship. A Stanford full ride is probably worth $350,000 easily (60k in room and board after tax is 90k) not even counting the value of Stanford degree. But one thing NO ONE talks about and it shocks me as colleges are full of liberal professors is how the 'rich sports' - footballl, etc subsidize the poor sports. I would think that on college campuses where professors rail against income inequality, there would be more of a movement to get people to realize, "Hey Florida Gators. W'ere in this together. The football star makes it possible for the women's soccer player to come here for free."

USATF deserves LOTS of criticism for other stuff but last time I checked they are a non-profit. So the money Nike is giving them is going to the sport - some to elits, grassroots, etc.

Personally, i think nearly all of the nike money should go to elites as that's what it's comign from (to get their swoosh on the jersey), but the elites do get some of that. How much do you think it cost to send an athlete first to Japan and then to China and put them up in a hotel for 3-4 weeks. $5-10,000?

$3k in flights.

$2-3k in hotels.

$1k in incidentials

(Ingoring the fact i think the LOC pays for a lot of the housing)

That's certainly more than what the third place woman in the hammer would bring in.

So while the current system may hurt a few stars. It also helps others I'm sure.

This is getting off-topic, but a large number of professors and others on/around most campuses point this out and with regularity but they do tend to get ignored in national college sports reporting. I've been saying for years that for a handful of athletes in 2-3 sports on a few dozen campuses a scholarship is being underpaid, and the other 99% of college athletes are overpaid.

LOC picks up the first two:

"Pay travel and full-board accommodation costs for the quota athletes (approximately 2,000) for a maximum of 13 nights in a 4-star hotel"

Appreciate the response Roj, although you don’t address the central point: If athletes are prevented from representing their sponsors during *non-team* activities then they need to be compensated. A hotel room and plane ticket aren’t comp, this is a business expense. As a general rule, companies doesn’t clawback an employee’s travel expenses from payroll after a business trip. The IAAF and affiliated national orgs provide travel for the athletes to the championship event to be certain that there is an event. Nike athletes, USATF staff, board members, coaches, trainers, wives and significant others, VIPs, etc get hotel and plane tickets too and it’s not in exchange for loss of income. Nor are these attendees prevented from conducting business at any time during championship week.

Athlete compensation would include service contracts, appearance fees, and prize money. In this instance non-Nike athletes must effectively suspend their service contracts during team competition. It’s unreasonable to extend that suspension to non-team related activities, but this appears to be what USATF is requiring. The more obvious result is that this necessarily creates an uneven playing field with Nike athletes.

Your side arguments about profit sharing in college sports are scattered. Tuition and room/board are marginal costs for a university, yet you value them at sticker price. A head football coach at a university receives housing allowances many times greater than any student-athlete, *plus* a salary, *plus* incentive bonuses and on and on. The disparity there has grown beyond all proportion. Track athletes will never have access to revenue sharing on this scale but they should get a much bigger piece of the pie than they currently receive. At the most basic level they should be able to contract with sponsors without USATF crowding them out at every opportunity.

hulksmash wrote:

Athlete compensation would include service contracts, appearance fees, and prize money. In this instance non-Nike athletes must effectively suspend their service contracts during team competition. It’s unreasonable to extend that suspension to non-team related activities, but this appears to be what USATF is requiring. The more obvious result is that this necessarily creates an uneven playing field with Nike athletes.

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These athletes aren't paid per hour. How can you possibly come up with a compensation amount? You'd have to prove that their sponsors would have paid them in the first place.

Do their contracts say specifically "we will give you $10000 for wearing our brand logos during worlds"? And would Symmonds have made any less money this month from his sponsor if he didn't make the team?

USATF provides grant money only to the top athletes in the USA that are already making substantial money except maybe the throwers. You either need to be a sprinter, Centrowitz or Simpson, or Meb to get Tier 1

Tier 1: Athletes will qualify for all USATF and USOC benefits, and are those who have achieved any/all of the following:

Medaled in either of the two (2) most recent world-major championships (2012 Olympic Games and 2013 World Championships in Athletics [Track & Field-Outdoor]); and/or

Have achieved a top-10 world rank in 2014 by Track & Field News (year-end ranking for 2014) or All-Athletics.com (year-end ranking for 2014); or

Have achieved a top-5 world rank in 2013 by Track & Field News (year-end ranking for 2013) or All-Athletics.com (year-end ranking for 2013); or

The above medal winning criteria will also apply to athletes who competed in the first round and/or final on a medal-winning team at either/both 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 World Championships in Athletics [Track & Field-Outdoor].

Tier 2: Athletes will qualify for the majority of USATF and USOC benefits, albeit sometimes at a lower dollar amount, and are those who have achieved any/all of the following:

Placed among the top 8 place finishers in either/both of the two (2) most recent major championships (2012 Olympic Games and 2013 World Championships in Athletics [Track & Field-Outdoor]); and/or

Have achieved a top 20 world rank in 2014 by All-Athletics.com (year-end ranking for 2014); or

Have achieved a sixth through tenth (6-10) World Ranking in 2013 by Track & Field News (year- end ranking for 2013) or All-Athletics.com (year-end ranking for 2013).

Continued...

Tier 3: Athletes will qualify for a limited number of benefits. However athletes in this category, who are defined as Immediate Post Collegians (IPC’s), will have exclusive access to the Post Collegiate Scholarship Fund. Further, there are also some IPC’s who, based on their ranking and/or performance profile, qualify for and are entitled to the benefits of Tier 1 or Tier 2 programs. To be qualified for Tier 3, athletes must have achieved the following:

Tier 4: Athletes will qualify for a limited number of benefits, albeit sometimes at a lower dollar amount, and they must have achieved the following:

Be ranked among the Top 2 U.S. by Track & Field News in its 2014 year-end rankings, and/or

Achieved a Top 2 place finish at the 2014 U.S. (Outdoor) Championships, 2014 U.S. Men’s 50km Race Walk Championships/Trials, or 2014 U.S. Marathon Championships.

For both of the above, the athlete must have also achieved the 2015 World Championship “A” standard in the event that applies to the criteria above.

This is how the benefits are broken up:

Tier 1

USOC EAHI (Elite Athlete Health Insurance)

USOC National Medical Network

USATF/St. Vincent Sports Performance Elite Athlete Medical Support Programs

Performance Pool Funding (Athlete stipend, medical reimbursement, coaching stipend)

International Competitive Opportunities Stipend

Domestic Competitive Opportunities - Final details coming soon

Tier 2

All Tier 1 programs, except there will be lower stipend amounts for several programs

Tier 3

All Tier 1 Programs, except the following:

Performance Pool Funding (Athlete and Coach Stipend)

USOC EAHI (Elite Athlete Health Insurance) – view program criteria listed above under the Tier 1 section, slots based on availability

Tier 4

All Tier 1 Programs, except the following:

Performance Pool Funding (Coach Stipend)

USOC EAHI (Elite Athlete Health Insurance) – view program criteria listed above under the Tier 1 section, slots based on availability

Jeff Wigand wrote:

This is a fight he is picking. Garett Heath ran in the Pan Am Games last month with these same restrictions. He couldn't wear any Brooks apparel when training in Toronto and it wasn't an issue, which is also why you don't see Loxsom standing with Nick on this.

I was there at the PanAm Games as part of the USOC staff. The USOC security did team briefings with every sport team and specifically told us NOT to wear Team USA gear outside the Village and while training because it would make us targets. I ran with some of the USATF staff (and other NGB staff as well) and we refrained from wearing Team USA gear.

Safety and security comes first.

In Mexico in 2011 we were told the same thing, but that was as long as the other clothing was non logo'd or Nike. Since you're not an athlete and you're obviously not sponsored by a competitive company to Nike you wouldn't understand that strain the logo restrictions put on us athletes. We are paid 365 days a year and want to give back to our sponsors during the most important time of our careers and we are forced not to.

So based on that is Nick a tier 1 athlete?

If so, he getting a ton on benefits from USATF. Don't get me wrong, he earned them but he acts like usatf is giving him nothing.

I think that perhaps he is injured and knows he won't do squat in China, so he's taking the opportunity to make an a** out himself again and continue his campaign to be the most obnoxious publicity junkie in the sport. Just my opinion.

The problem in track and field is that NIKE is paying USATF $20 million / yr and very little is going to the athletes. Their own sponsors would be more than happy to pay for the athletes' travel to Bejing.

You can't compare pro athletes who are suppose to wear adidas because their team has a sponsor. The team is paying them millions. USATF is paying little to the athletes. The athletes' income almost solely comes from their shoe sponsorship, yet they can't get any sponsorship at the only two meets that are watched by anyone.

Nick sees the big picture. I hope some other athletes can do the same thing.