KraftMacAndCheese wrote:
[quote]800 dude wrote:
This 4-month rule is going to be a disaster, not just for the Olympics (because shoe companies were blindsided), but for pro running going forward.
The entire point of professional running is to sell shoes to the masses.
This is just wrong.
You have to consider the current structure (or lack thereof) when it comes to how the Brands manage relationships with their signed athletes & the target market of people wanting to buy gear related to their favorite athletes. A rule such as this can give some impact on how the brands use their athletes to promote gear moving forward.
Something to look at is the INEOS and the Breaking 2 events hosted by Nike and starring Eluid Kpchoge. There are two sides of the coin where these were incredibly awesome to experience and watch by the public but there is a part of the running community calling the events "commercials" and there is in fact some truth where these events have created a demand for some Nike Vaporfly race shoes. Keep in mind that this is probably the biggest promotion a brand has done for an athlete (and shoe) for a while.
Going a couple of levels below a promotion such as this you have to consider the relationship with other athletes and how the brands will consider to promote new shoes moving forward. Understandably so, this rule will force a brand to either plan ahead and hype its new shoe before its professional (not recreational) debut with a signed athlete (because of the 4-month requirement) or adjust how it'll promote a sneaker moving forward (not hype races, but through other means). But we don't know that for sure.
A lot of athletes are compensated through some exposure through their racing. And for some, this is their only avenue as not everyone gets the same treatment as other superstars in the sport (whether you care about that is up to you).
This rule will give some impact to an athlete's career outside of racing and it already has within the grounds of competing because now there is an enforced (and legitimate) rule for what you can race in. Maybe not the entire point, but a lot of emphasis for professional running is to promote sneakers and these athletes have some influence on that.
800 dude has very valid concerns for the future.