I'm not really too surprised by this. Didn't it come out a while back that Ches won't become a US citizen for several years, at least? Huge blow there. He can't compete in any US champs, which is the biggest meet of the year for most domestic pro runners (and sponsors). That effectively makes him a young "Kenyan" guy who has good name recognition in the US but has really never had much charisma or marketability beyond the fact that he dominated in college. Well, college is done now. He's not going to dominate in the pro ranks. He might even get routinely beaten by other Kenyans his age or younger. It's pretty easy for me to believe that Skechers came along with a decent offer and Nike et al. were unwilling to beat it.