Gabby Thomas goes pro - signs with NB

Smart move. She is a top top talent. Wishing her much success and hardware to come!

Harambe wrote:

Smart move. She is a top top talent. Wishing her much success and hardware to come!

Look call me biased as I do the Ivy League broadcasts and will greatly miss having her at the meets, but I think it's impossible to know if this was a mistake or not unless you know how much she got PAID. I'll say this, I think this is a mistake unless she got paid MASSIVELY.

If she moves up to the 400, she has the potential to be the face of the US in the 400 and more importantly the 4 x 400. With the mixed gender stuff being forced down everyone's throats, the top US 400 runners will almost be guaranteed two Olympic gold medals in the 4 x 400s every 4 years (I"m assuming there will be a women's 4 x 400, men's 4 x 400 and mixed gender 4 x 400). So as long as you are top 2 in the US in the 4 x 400, you are almost guaranteed to be a double gold medallist.

Sydney M will probably be on that team as well so it will be very high profile.

With a lot of the big NCAA stars leaving after 2018, I think if she'd gone back she'd have been the face of sprinting in the NCAA. So I hope she got PAID big time. One other big reason to go back. I know she's the indoor CR holder but she never won an outdoor NCAA title. If I were here, I'd want to go back to do that but then again I'm old fashioned.

-Rojo

PS. If you are tv exec and want announcers to be exciting when they call a race and anticipate what is about to happen, please see the following clip. I was looking forward to more calls like this in 2019:

Yes, I agree, would have been great to see her stay on the Harvard team and continue to compete at the NCAA level. She would still attend the same school and be coached by the same coach, as a pro she does it alone. If it was about the cash, would that not have been there after another year?

Would hold her own in the sports illustrated swimsuit edition.

Big money. Her agent should give them a call.

Contract details

"$200,000 base salary per year as well as $30,000 per year for coaching and travel and a $20,000 per year education stipend."

Good for her to negotiate an education stipend. I wonder if it covers all of her financial aid requirements that she has or has accrued.

Well, if those contract numbers are accurate, I reconsider my previous statement. Good deal for her (and her coach)

Harambe wrote:

https://www.gazettenet.com/Florence-s-Gabby-Thomas-signs-professional-deal-with-New-Balance-20660696

Contract details

"$200,000 base salary per year as well as $30,000 per year for coaching and travel and a $20,000 per year education stipend."

Did it say that? The article has been taken down. Great find if true.

rojo wrote:

Did it say that? The article has been taken down. Great find if true.

It did. Huh - I wonder if it wasn’t supposed to be public knowledge...

“The Florence native signed a professional contract with New Balance on Thursday that runs through 2022, forgoing her senior season of eligibility at Harvard. New Balance announced the signing Monday. She is the only female sprinter the company sponsors.

Paul Doyle of Doyle Management Group represents Thomas and negotiated the contract. It will pay her a $200,000 base salary per year as well as $30,000 per year for coaching and travel and a $20,000 per year education stipend.”

That was saved in my copy/paste memory of my phone.

The Gazette article is available again, but they removed the info about the monetary value of her contract. However, the author added in details about what shoes/gear she will be running in now that she’s pro.

C/M Runner wrote:

Good for her to negotiate an education stipend. I wonder if it covers all of her financial aid requirements that she has or has accrued.

Well Harvard has no loans. Plus financial aid packages for senior year would already be out. So I assume she wouldn't have to pay anymore for the school this year even though she's now rich.

Nice! I was thinking $200,000 plus and she’s losing the Harvard FA and 20k won’t cover anything but 3/4 of a dorm room. If funds have already been distributed by the school she’s golden. No tuition!

rojo wrote:

Well Harvard has no loans. Plus financial aid packages for senior year would already be out. So I assume she wouldn't have to pay anymore for the school this year even though she's now rich.

While the university itself doesn't offer loans anymore, her family could have taken loans out from banks in order to cover the parental contribution of the overall college expenses. And I think she may have had to take out loans this past summer in order to cover some of her living expenses in Boston as she competed on the Diamond League circuit while she worked at a non-profit...

Get it girl!!! I'm so excited to have her on the pro scene - she is fun to watch and has so much more potential from what I can tell.

C/M Runner wrote:

rojo wrote:

Did it say that? The article has been taken down. Great find if true.

It did. Huh - I wonder if it wasn’t supposed to be public knowledge...

“The Florence native signed a professional contract with New Balance on Thursday that runs through 2022, forgoing her senior season of eligibility at Harvard. New Balance announced the signing Monday. She is the only female sprinter the company sponsors.

Paul Doyle of Doyle Management Group represents Thomas and negotiated the contract. It will pay her a $200,000 base salary per year as well as $30,000 per year for coaching and travel and a $20,000 per year education stipend.”

That was saved in my copy/paste memory of my phone.

Their have been no details of the contract released. Fake news as the say. A reporter floating numbers for a reaction.

NB as all shoe companies ask contract details be kept confidential.

Nonsense at best wrote:

Their have been no details of the contract released. Fake news as the say. A reporter floating numbers for a reaction.

NB as all shoe companies ask contract details be kept confidential.

I think Gabby shared it with the reporter, not fully understanding the NDA clause. She's blabbed on other stuff before (ranting about her training conditions at Harvard on social media in a multi-part twitter post) only to later remove them after a few hours.

C/M Runner wrote:

Nonsense at best wrote:

Their have been no details of the contract released. Fake news as the say. A reporter floating numbers for a reaction.

NB as all shoe companies ask contract details be kept confidential.

I think Gabby shared it with the reporter, not fully understanding the NDA clause. She's blabbed on other stuff before (ranting about her training conditions at Harvard on social media in a multi-part twitter post) only to later remove them after a few hours.

How does a Harvard runner not understand an NDA?

What did she say about the training facilities? I'd love to know.

I think it's funny that there are so many runners thinking college track holds them back. Then when they are pros and have no structure they often run worse.

So does this mean her dad gets free dad shoes for life or something?

Seriously, saw at least a few dads wearing NB while walking around on my lunch break.

curious guy wrote:

I think it's funny that there are so many runners thinking college track holds them back. Then when they are pros and have no structure they often run worse.

::cough:: Hannah Cunliffe ::cough:: ::cough::