NOP is done - Nike CEO Mark Parker shuts down the NOP

Yawn. Self-preservation by Nike. Whoever said the exact same outfit will reemerge with a different name sans Salazar is correct.

Rupp lines up with a beard and eyepatch wearing a tattered NOP singlet

My Instagram feed was scrubbed wrote:

Wow. It's for real. So many posts on my IG feed are gone. Gonna miss their stuff.

Yeah. It is sad. Maybe people on this site should have realized this prior to trashing the program/athletes. I'm not saying it was you - just in general. Real people and real lives are being affected.

Rumor has it, they’re going to rename the building “the Klotz Center”.

Sad..dayfor running wrote:

Sad.

Only company and team that supported running with big money. This is sad.

Think about finding a company that will ever get that behind American distance running.

Congrats to Kara for biting the hand.

I hope the bread crumbs from Hoka are enough to go around. This is a sad day.

Uh, to all the people making comments like this - you realize there’s the Bowerman group, right? Schumacher? Has a couple O.K. runners?

Pumpkin Ass wrote:

Salazar is an American hero. He is innocent. The NOP should live on to build on Salazar’s legacy. I’m literally shaking right now because of how mad I am about this. Nike should be cancelled.

Agreed. Salazar is innocent in all of this. Magness was the one who doped for Pete's sake!

This is another example of liberal socialists shutting down a good, hardworking capitalist because he doesn't align with their liberal social politics (gay marriage, etc).

"punished" venom rupp wrote:

Rupp lines up with a beard and eyepatch wearing a tattered NOP singlet

Yes.

Shrapnel lodged in his dome and bionic Aeroswift sleeve.

Thursday wrote:

My Instagram feed was scrubbed wrote:

Wow. It's for real. So many posts on my IG feed are gone. Gonna miss their stuff.

Yeah. It is sad. Maybe people on this site should have realized this prior to trashing the program/athletes. I'm not saying it was you - just in general. Real people and real lives are being affected.

No, cheating shut it down. Calling out cheating is what supporters of the sport should be doing. Running doesn’t need nike. They are in to sell cheaply made shoes at a high price no matter the detriment to the sport. Real fans of the sport just want fair competition. The evil empire has fallen and now good has an opportunity to reign again.

Nothing new here. A self-preservation move by Parker and his public relations department. To clarify to all illiterates out there, this does not represent a significant chunk of $$$ lost for NIKE. Athletics is more of a charity case for NIKE.

Let's put it this way, they will hibernate until the appeals process is done. If Al wins the appeal, NOP will resurrect like a zombie with a different name with Al Sal as head coach again. If Al Sal does not win, then NOP stays buried forever and something else will be worked out on the sides (as if they have not began that process, duh!)

Back to my airplane, got a long trip tomorrow.

doot doot wrote:

"punished" venom rupp wrote:

Rupp lines up with a beard and eyepatch wearing a tattered NOP singlet

Yes.

Shrapnel lodged in his dome and bionic Aeroswift sleeve.

Don’t forget the bouncy castle shoes! Boing boing!

Pete Julian abetting and assisting is entangled and out as NOP Assistant.

Is he done?

doot doot wrote:

All I want to know is what singlet Rupp will wear this weekend.

I think the skull logo was lame anyway.

The skull logo represents what the NOP is now. DEAD. The NOP bit the dust.

Xylon wrote:

Pete Julian abetting and assisting is entangled and out as NOP Assistant.

Is he done?

I hope so. Given how closely Sleazy Sal and Julian worked together, it’s naive to think that Julian was innocent in this whole matter.

LoneStarXC wrote:

doot doot wrote:

All I want to know is what singlet Rupp will wear this weekend.

I think the skull logo was lame anyway.

The skull logo represents what the NOP is now. DEAD. The NOP bit the dust.

We’ll seeeeeeeee

The stock is at an all time high. Parker made 52 million last year and has almost another 200 million in stock.

He’s going to love the annual shareholder meeting

The average shareholder won’t know anything about this

doot doot wrote:

LoneStarXC wrote:

The skull logo represents what the NOP is now. DEAD. The NOP bit the dust.

We’ll seeeeeeeee

He’ll wear whatever singlet Nike tells him. Just like he always dors

Have the Brojos offered Rupp the opportunity to wear a LetsRun singlet this Sunday?

This just in - video footage of Galen with his design for the new running gear. Ex-NOPer (and he's not a doper) Craig Engels just cut off his facial hair, but Galen's gone the opposite direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOHr85z9k64

NOP is gone but, the athletes will continue to be paid by Nike. It will be a quiet winter and a new re-branded club will emerge by spring 2020. The roster will be essentially the same with a few more international athletes (to spread goodwill), a couple of respected assistant coaches, and an "Sports Ethics and Compliance" officer added to the mix. Pete Julian will head the new squad. "We will be committed to clean sport and the highest ethical yada, yada...while committing to full transparency yada, yada..."

Win or lose on the appeal, Salazar is done and was very likely headed into retirement after Tokyo before this blew up. I expect Rupp to bow out in 2021 after an attempt to win Boston or NYC.

Parker will suffer some short term embarrassment but, so long as the shareholders and institutional traders are bullish on the brand, he will survive this. In fact, outside of LRC, his involvement will be largely forgotten by next week and the PR people are already spinning this as, "Parker showed bold leadership by taking action to eliminate any hint of impropriety on the part of corporate by closing down NOP!".

2020 headlines from Tokyo: Hassan wins double gold, Brazier gets first Oly 800 gold for US since Dave Wottle, Kejelcha medals for Ethiopia at 10K, and Engels, Hull, and Klosterhalfen all make their respective event finals. A great showing for the Nike International TC in their first year!