The USA Track and Field (USATF) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) reached a settlement a little over two weeks ago with Run Gum, a performance chewing gum company owned by track athlete Nick Symmonds. Run Gum had alleged that the USATF and USOC violated antitrust laws when they refused to allow athletes to have non-shoe manufacturer logos on their jerseys at this summer’s Olympic Trials.
“This is a win-win,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel told the media. “It makes no difference to us at the Olympic Trials if the small logo on an athlete’s jersey, which can only be 1.5 inches wide and 2 inches tall, says Nike or it if says Run Gum or CitiBank. We want to support our athletes and at the same time let Nike teach us how monetize this space with new sponsors if he can. Thankfully, since Nike has basically doubled the amount of money they give us, few have realized we no longer have a title sponsor like Visa for our championships series.”
USOC head Scott Blackmun told the Website LetsRun.com that it is “a bad thing for track and field and the Olympic movement when people think we mistreat America’s heroes. When our athletes sue us and say they are treated poorly, that controversy hurts our ability to attract new sponsors. We looked at the rules, realized it made no difference to us what the logo said, and agreed to drop the lawsuit. We were willing to ‘lose’ the lawsuit to help the sport.”
The settlement came several months after Run Gum filed its complaint, which alleged that the USATF and the USOC, along with other unnamed co-conspirators, “jointly agreed to exclude various businesses from sponsoring athletes in return for advertising exposure on athletes’ competition apparel” at the upcoming Olympic Trials.
“Currently, the only logos permitted on an athlete’s competition attire during the Trials are those belonging to apparel and equipment manufacturers that have been approved by the USOC,” the plaintiffs noted in a press release. “Though not an apparel or equipment manufacturer, Run Gum wants to sponsor athletes at the Trials in return for logo exposure on the athlete’s competition attire, subject to the same limitations on logo placement, quantity, and size that govern apparel and equipment manufacturers.”
The original lawsuit can be viewed at http://getrungum.com/rglawsuit
The defendants responded to the complaint with a motion to dismiss on February 27 in which they claimed that they have the right to control all commercial activities at the upcoming Olympic Trials, including the brand logos that athletes display when they compete.
