Athletics as a whole has been under the scanner of late. As compared to other sporting leagues, the sport is falling short in the endorsement market. Track and field is the heartbeat of athletics and track runners and yet, despite their Olympic and World Championships glories, they fail to get endorsements at times. The cherry of all endorsements for athletes is footwear brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. These billion-dollar shoe brands are not absent in the track and field world. However, their business model for other athletes such as the NBA and NFL, as compared to that of athletics, is clearly lopsided towards the prior.

A San Diego-based entrepreneur Tyrone V Ross Jr. recently spoke on this matter. He pointed out that while the debate can rage on as to why there is a comparative lack of sponsorships from shoe brands in track and field, there is a deeper issue at play.

The governing body of track and field needs to step up

Tyrone V Ross Jr, the co-founder of TurnqeyLabs and President and founder of 401 Financial, recently tweeted, “Lots of banter on here which I LOVE for track and field, but here is the harsh truth no one is addressing…” Tyrone Ross was referring to the various conversations over Twitter and other social media, where prominent athletes discussed the matter of pay disputes in track and field.

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Ross Jr. continued, “The shoe companies are GREAT at business, but the organizations running track & field are not. Athletes suffer due to this incompetence”. This is the comment that further spiraled another online debate. Raes Take TV replied, “Facts”. What Ross Jr. wanted to convey was that it’s the organizing committees that conduct track and field events, that need to step up to match the other sporting leagues.

Some of the richest sporting leagues in the world such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, ITF, etc, have done the same to earn the loyalty of some of the richest shoe companies. However, the discussion got more interesting when Robert Griffin III asked Tyrone Ross Jr. to further explain why the athletics organizers haven’t reached there yet. Tyrone Ross Jr. replied by calling out USATF, the National Governing body of track and field and long-distance running.

Shoe brand are only following their business model and rich sports leagues are gaining

Ross Jr. said that over the years, the model for revenue earning of track athletes and their visibility has remained the same. Even after some of them won Olympic medals, the board has done very little to help them get their financial due. This is where they have missed out on many sponsorship deals. Tyrone Ross went into a much more detailed explanation as to why track and field are lagging behind, whereas the business operation of brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, etc. have catered where there was profit.

The discussions went further down the rabbit hole with Griffin III and Michael Johnson also involved. NFL Quarterback Robert Griffin III, whose most notable outing was with Washington Redskins, was also involved in an intense debate about something similar with Michael Johnson a few days ago. The two mulled over why track and field are so grossly underpaid, despite being the “Only Real Sport”, as per Griffin III.

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