Life Outside the Oval Office: The Track Less Traveled

by Nick Symmonds

  I left New York to return to Oregon where I placed my precious silver medal in my safe. I lay back on my bed and looked out the window at the Willamette Valley. The summer of 2013 had been a summer full of adventures. In just a few short months I’d had more success and made more money than I ever thought I would in my entire running career. I thought about all the wild things I could do with the cash that was about to flow into my bank account as part of my medal victory: exotic travel, fancy clothes, and much more. I didn’t need any of it. I had just spent the summer traveling through Europe, and had more free Nike gear than I knew what to do with. I was living my dream and all that was missing was a cold beer and my fishing rod. So, I loaded up my pickup truck and headed for the river.

  20

  Today, when I meet someone for the first time, the conversation invariably turns to what I do for a living. When I first turned pro I responded with a grin and said, “I am a professional runner.” That often led to quizzical looks and something to the effect of, “That’s an actual job?” I soon realized that “professional runner” left people to assume I was a broke kid just out of college, living with my parents. They weren’t too far off as, unfortunately, many of us are!

  As I got tired of explaining how running in circles could in fact earn one a living I began to experiment with different responses. Sometimes I said I was self-employed. While true, this is what drug dealers say as well. Occasionally, I replied, “I’m on the US Olympic Team.” Again, true, but I always felt this came off as rather arrogant. More often than not I now reply, “I’m in marketing,” for this truly is what I do for a living.

  Many people might say I make my living running, but I don’t think I have ever been paid to run. Rather, I make my living marketing products. Professional athletes in track and field make the majority of their earnings in three different ways: appearance fees, prize money, and endorsements. The first two come from performing at meets. The money for our appearance fees and prize money comes from the meet sponsors whose names and/or logos are prominently featured on the bib numbers pinned to our jerseys. The last, and often most lucrative form of income is from sponsorships. Our primary sponsors are shoe and apparel manufactures that pay us to wear their products during training and competition.

  Unlike our foreign counterparts, whose governments pay them large sums of money to train and compete, our federation here in the United States pays us little to nothing to represent our country. Thus, we are almost entirely dependent on corporate support to pay our bills. Knowing this, most athletes hire agents to find them sponsors.

  In 2006, when I decided to turn pro and finally get paid to run, I chose Chris Layne of Total Sports Management to represent me as my agent. He negotiated my first deal with Nike that summer and renegotiated my contract with them after I made my first Olympic team in 2008. That second deal took me through the end of 2013. As the expiration of my contract with Nike approached, Chris once again set out to find the best contract for me.

  Given that I had just won the silver medal at the 2013 World Championships and was currently ranked number two in the world, Chris felt that we had solid leverage to negotiate a very good deal. Nike, however, did not agree and suggested Chris shop my deal around to other companies. Essentially, Nike wanted to see what the market dictated I was worth.

  Chris worked tirelessly with the other shoe companies to drum up interest and get a written offer. Although many companies expressed interest, only one invited me to take a trip to visit their corporate headquarters.

  Brooks Running, a specialty running brand based in Seattle, Washington told both Chris and me that they were very interested in signing me, and asked that I make a trip up to visit with their team. In early November of 2013 I loaded up my truck and drove the five-hours from Eugene to Seattle.

  Brooks is a small company in comparison to Nike and, while they had an impressive list of professional athletes, they had no track Olympians on their roster at the time. The man responsible for negotiating their shoe contracts, Jesse Williams, greeted me upon my arrival in Seattle. Jesse, a handsome guy in his mid thirties, ran for Texas Tech in the late nineties. I had gotten to know him briefly during the summer of 2013 when the Nike Oregon Track Club Elite and the Brooks Beasts were based in the same part of London.

  I spent several days in Seattle touring the Brooks headquarters, running with the Brooks team, and meeting with various departments from marketing to product development. I was amazed at how happy everyone was to see me. In my seven years with Nike I had never met with the apparel development or marketing teams to provide input. Here I was, not even under contract with Brooks, and they were asking for my advice. I liked being part of the process and could clearly see what a future with Brooks might look like.

  As if reading my mind, Jesse pitched to me what that future could look like from the Brooks perspective. He concluded with the hope that Brooks Running and Nick Symmonds, LLC could form a partnership that would last well after I finished running professionally. I left Seattle very impressed with Brooks Running and hoped they would make a solid offer– –and they did.

  In the world of shoe contracts there can be huge variations from one season to the next on how much money is available for athlete endorsements. If there are several particularly talented athletes coming out of college, then companies may be forced to save what little money they have to try to get one or two of them. I will never know what prevented other companies from making an offer, but felt fortunate to have a solid offer from Brooks.

  The whole process took a toll on me mentally, though, as did the cold weather in Eugene, so I booked a ticket to Los Angeles. Lauren had recently moved to Santa Monica and I had been spending more and more time there. I sub-let a small apartment just a few blocks from the beach and started logging in miles along the ocean.

  As the end of the year approached my agent began to get calls from Nike asking where we were with my negotiations. Chris and I talked and we both agreed that the Brooks deal was the best we were going to get, so he emailed the offer to Nike.

  Nike found themselves in a difficult situation with the terms of the contract. The Brooks offer did not have what are called, “reduction clauses.” They offered me a guaranteed retainer for three years no matter how well or poorly I performed. Nike, on the other hand, was not interested in offering a contract without reduction clauses. What this meant was that if an athlete failed to perform to certain standards Nike had the right to reduce the athlete’s salary by a certain percentage. The standards and percentages are outlined in the contract so both parties know what they are getting into.

  Reduction clauses, however, make it almost impossible for an athlete to have any job security. One small injury, or an unlucky race, can easily cost an athlete a large percentage of his or her annual income. I had been fortunate during my seven years with Nike to be consistent and healthy, and had never been reduced. However, as I was about to enter my thirties, I felt it was time to finally have some security.

  The reality was that I had, for the most part, enjoyed working with Nike. They had taken a chance on me when I was a no-name Division III graduate. I had cultivated relationships with many good people at their company and had been a part of the Nike Oregon Track Club from its inception. I didn’t want to leave Coach Rowland and the Oregon Track Club Elite.

  As promised, a deal from Nike arrived shortly. According to Chris, a rep from Nike prefaced the offer by saying, “We know Nick probably won’t accept this, but this is our best offer.”

  The Nike offer, of course, included reduction clauses. To add insult to injury, Nike wanted a fully exclusive contract, which would prevent me from displaying any other corporate logos during competition (even on my skin), something that Brooks had not asked for.

  Chris agreed with the Nike rep and guessed that I would not accept the offer, but told him that he would pass it along to me. When Chris told me what Nike’s offer was I smiled. “Wow,” I said, “they sure made it easy for me to choos
e Brooks!” Nike wanted so much more from me, yet they offered so much less in return. Add to that, when my agent spoke to them, he did not have the same positive feeling as he did when he spoke to Brooks. I knew it was time for me to leave the swoosh.

  I told Chris that I would carefully craft a written response to Nike’s offer and would email to them it first thing on Monday morning. My response was similar to the text that follows, but what you see below has been changed a bit, due to nondisclosure and other clauses in my new contract with Brooks Running.

  To the Nike Sports Marketing Team,

  I would like to begin by thanking you for your offer to extend our partnership through the 2016 Olympic Games. I value the Nike brand and my relationship with the Oregon Track Club Elite very much. I would like to compare the two offers I have been presented with, so that I can make sure I understand them completely. As it has been relayed to me by my agent, Chris Layne, the offers on the table are as follows:

  Brooks: (X) per year average. No reduction clauses. Exclusivity on shoes and running apparel only. Displays of other corporate logos on my person during competition are acceptable.

  Nike: (X) per year average. With reduction clauses. Exclusivity on shoes, running apparel, casual apparel, timing, and vision. Displays of other corporate logos on my person during competition are not acceptable.

  Brooks is able to offer me a comparable training environment to the Oregon Track Club Elite, and is presenting me with a contract that allows me to court other sponsors and grow my business.

  If I have this correct, then it is clear that the Brooks offer is better than the one presented by Nike. As I have very much enjoyed helping to build the OTCE brand from scratch, I would prefer to stay with Nike and continue our work together. However, it would be extremely disadvantageous for me to do so under the terms set forth in your offer. I would certainly entertain an offer that had more favorable terms.

  Provided the offer you have put forth is, as you say, the best you can do, I must respectfully decline and will be signing a contract with Brooks on January 2, 2014. I wish you all continued success.

  Sincerely,

  Nick Symmonds, owner

  Nick Symmonds, LLC

  My email clearly outlined the pros and cons of each contract with the exception that OTCE is more accomplished than the Brooks Beasts. On the other hand, OTCE only recently began producing medals, after having been around for seven years.

  The Beasts are a new and growing entity and, like the Oregon Track Club Elite, will take time to develop. As far as coaches go, Mark Rowland of OTCE is perhaps the best middle distance coach in the world today. Danny Mackey of Brooks Beasts is young, relatively speaking, and has yet to coach a world or Olympic medalist. However, in my conversations with Coach Mackey it is apparent that he has a philosophy and approach toward training that is very similar to Coach Rowland’s. I believe that Coach Mackey will do great things in the world of track and field.

  Furthermore, I feel that Nike has set a dangerous precedent by placing such a high value on the Oregon Track Club Elite. Over the course of my seven years on the team I saw many athletes come to OTCE, run well, and then be denied a contract or contract renewal. Nike created a phenomenal training environment in the OTCE. However, once an athlete had success in the group, Nike used that success against the athlete in the negotiation process because they knew the athlete would have a strong desire to stay. I’m not saying that is a bad negotiation tactic in the short term, but in the long run how does OTCE hope to continue to draw top talent if that talent knows they will be screwed when it comes time to renegotiate?

  With only days left in my contract with Nike I knew I had to make a final choice: remain with the only shoe sponsor and professional team I had ever known, or try something completely new and sign with Brooks. The business side of me said I would make a terrible mistake if I signed with Nike. The personal side of me felt it would be better to retire than to have to work another day with Nike.

  I wrote down all the pros and cons of each offer and placed them side-by-side. I knew a lot of people would tell me to stay with Nike as I would get to stay with Coach Rowland and OTCE. However, my gut told me that I should go with Brooks. They were the track less traveled, and choosing them would lead me to the new adventures and the possibilities I always looked for in life.

  I made up my mind and called Jesse Williams at Brooks. “Jesse,” I said, “Nike made an offer. That said, I would still like to sign with Brooks.”

  There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before Jesse replied, “That is fantastic news, Nick. We are going to accomplish some really incredible things together.”

  I wish I could say that I leapt for joy after making up my mind, but I did not, as the feeling was so very bittersweet. I thought about Coach Rowland and my teammates, about my house in Oregon and how much I had loved being a part of the Eugene-Springfield community. I also thought about how difficult the road ahead would be and how much pressure would be placed on me to perform.

  All of these thoughts rushed through my head simultaneously. Fortunately, my parents had flown to Los Angeles for Christmas and I was able to talk through a lot of my worries with them. I could tell they were happy for me, and felt I had made the right decision. Their advice was sound and welcomed, but it did little to put all my fears at rest. During much of the Christmas vacation I stared at the ocean, wondered what lay in my future, and felt like my head was going to explode.

  I was confused and lost. As I had done so many times before when I felt this way, I picked up the phone and called Coach Sam. As soon as I heard his voice, I began to cry. Through choked sobs I explained to him that I was afraid of everything changing, and how I didn’t want to leave Coach Rowland. Sam and I talked for over an hour. Just as we had done during my transition from collegiate to professional running, and again during the transition from Coach Gagliano to Coach Rowland, we now, together, formed a plan that would take me through this transition.

  The plan allowed me to have the support I needed to get through my first season with Brooks. Though Coach Mackey at Brooks would help me write my workouts, we didn’t want to change much of what had been working so well with Coach Rowland. Sam suggested that I take many things into my own hands, and that I draw upon the wisdom of the years of running logs that I had saved. I also needed to take my massage and medical needs, items that had previously been taken care of by Coach Rowland, into my own hands. Finally, Sam and I agreed that for my short-term well being I needed to take this transition one step at a time.

  Step one was signing my new contract and putting on a non-Nike pair of running shoes for the first time in seven years. Jesse was excited about the announcement and asked if I could fly to Seattle for a signing party. He booked me a ticket for New Year’s Day. I continued to work through my own fears and began to focus on how I could best make use of the publicity that would come from the sponsor switch.

  Earlier in the year I had done a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Stephen Wayda. This shoot, which was set up through my publicist, Hal Lifson, was unlike anything I had ever done before. Most shoots I had done before had been for sponsors or for magazines. These photos, however, were for no one in particular, but would be useful as I continued to build my brand. Stephen Wayda had built a reputation as one of the world’s finest photographers through his work with Playboy, and proved to be as talented as everyone said he was.

  I met with Stephen and his wife/assistant, Kara, on a private beach in Summerland, California, just south of Santa Barbara one sunny afternoon. The shoot began with me in jeans and a sweater posing next to some eucalyptus trees. However, by the end I was down to my birthday suit flexing as the surf washed in around my ankles. When I saw the results of the shoot I was astounded. Years of hard work on the track, combined with Stephen’s incredible eye, had resulted in some beautiful, yet very tasteful, photos. Although I was nude, much was left to the imagination. I chose one of my favorites and posted it to Inst
agram with the caption:

  FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SEVEN YEARS I AM WITHOUT AN APPAREL SPONSOR. THUS, I AM FORCED TO WORK OUT IN THE NUDE UNTIL A COMPANY COMES TO THE RESCUE.

  As planned, the combination of the provocative image, along with the news that I was no longer partnered with Nike caused quite a stir. Among the running community there was much talk about why I had been “dropped” by Nike and which company I would ultimately sign with. As I boarded my plane to Seattle I smiled at a comment that read:

  I BET HE HAS A CONTRACT SIGNED BY THE END OF THE DAY.

  That follower’s prediction was quite accurate, as I inked a deal with Brooks Running later that night. I took a few photos in a neon yellow Brooks jersey and recorded a thank you video to my loyal fans. I had only gone sixteen hours without a contract, and was very grateful to once again have a corporate partner. My story is somewhat unusual, though. Too often the professional track and field athletes that we expect to win us medals every four years are left penniless, wondering how to pay for their basic needs, let alone expensive training.

  21

  After a few weeks of working with the amazing men and women at Brooks Running, I knew I had made the right choice. While I still harbored a strong sense of resentment towards Nike for, from my viewpoint, leaving me no choice but to find another corporate partner, I could tell right away that everything about Brooks matched my personality much better.

  From day one Brooks asked me to provide input on product development, personal relations, and marketing. They allowed me to more freely express myself in my writing and in my interviews. I quickly formed a great working relationship with Jesse Williams. One day, as he drove me to the Seattle airport, he said, “Obviously we want you to run well Nick, but we believe we will get a return on our investment in you off the track as well.” I felt like, finally, for the first time, someone appreciated all the hard work I had done.