Tom -
Here is another side: For many sports, especially the minor ones, keeping a sponsor is vitally necessary. If people wish to compete on the international stage, the governing body of a sport must have the money to send teams, help with expenses, etc. No money, no competition. A sponsor is shelling out big $ hopes to get some publicity in return. If they don't or, as in the case of Gary Hall, another company gets the publicity, sponsors very often take their money elsewhere. Gary Hall put his personal monetary interests ahead of the team's, which is his right. However, since he made that choice after having signed a contract, he must accept that there is a penalty.
Two cases in point from my personal experience:
1) 20+ years ago, racewalking managed to get Mazola to act as sponsor. Due to non-compliance by the athletes to some of the requirements, the sponsorship was lost after a year. As a result of the bad word of mouth, it took years to find anyone else to donate much money. Who suffered? The next generation of athletes who followed the athletes who refused to abide by the sponsors (relatively minor and painless) requests of the sponsor.
2) At one time, U.S. Weightlifting was sponsored by Mack Trucks. On top of the sponsorship money, all the weightlifters at the training center got some t-shirts that said "Built Like a Mack Truck." The athletes, realizing what the $ money meant, lived in those shirts - to the point that some of them had to be occasionally reminded (politely - they are BIG) to launder them a bit more often. They kept Mack Trucks as sponsors for at least 4 years.
Gary Hall is free to do as he pleases, including not compete or set up a competing swimming federation (i.e. http://www.adultswimming.com ). But I was always taught that once you agree to something, you either follow through on it or accept the consequences of not doing so.
-LBJ
Tom -
Here is another side: For many sports, especially the minor ones, keeping a sponsor is vitally necessary. If people wish to compete on the international stage, the governing body of a sport must have the money to send teams, help with expenses, etc. No money, no competition. A sponsor is shelling out big $ hopes to get some publicity in return. If they don't or, as in the case of Gary Hall, another company gets the publicity, sponsors very often take their money elsewhere. Gary Hall put his personal monetary interests ahead of the team's, which is his right. However, since he made that choice after having signed a contract, he must accept that there is a penalty.
Two cases in point from my personal experience:
1) 20+ years ago, racewalking managed to get Mazola to act as sponsor. Due to non-compliance by the athletes to some of the requirements, the sponsorship was lost after a year. As a result of the bad word of mouth, it took years to find anyone else to donate much money. Who suffered? The next generation of athletes who followed the athletes who refused to abide by the sponsors (relatively minor and painless) requests of the sponsor.
2) At one time, U.S. Weightlifting was sponsored by Mack Trucks. On top of the sponsorship money, all the weightlifters at the training center got some t-shirts that said "Built Like a Mack Truck." The athletes, realizing what the $ money meant, lived in those shirts - to the point that some of them had to be occasionally reminded (politely - they are BIG) to launder them a bit more often. They kept Mack Trucks as sponsors for at least 4 years.
Gary Hall is free to do as he pleases, including not compete or set up a competing swimming federation (i.e. http://www.adultswimming.com ). But I was always taught that once you agree to something, you either follow through on it or accept the consequences of not doing so.
-LBJ
