Ashley Wagner's agent and sponsors promise her endorsements are safe after she failed to make the U.S. figure skating team for Pyeongchang following a fourth-place finish at the U.S. nationals on Friday. Wagner, who won a Bronze Medal at the '14 Sochi Games as part of the team competition, is among the most commercially active Olympians in years to miss the team, as she has seven sponsors and a place in NBC's promotional campaign. She has deals with Bridgestone, Dick's Sporting Goods, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Toyota and Zico coconut water, according to CAA's Lowell Taub, who reps Wagner. Financial terms of Wagner's deals are not public, but Olympic endorsements almost always include incentive payments for making the team and medaling. Several sponsors noted that Wagner's medal from Sochi gives her value to marketers more permanence, regardless of this year's disappointment. "She is still and will always be an Olympian who has been on the Olympic podium," said Bridgestone Americas VP/Sports & Event Marketing & Training Phil Pacsi. "That is something that should be celebrated, and we have many plans to do just that.” Bridgestone will not pull any current television ads or other creative involving Wagner. Toyota's marketing plans also will not change because of the news, Toyota Marketing Communications Manager Leigh Anne Sessions said. "She has a long and successful history in the Olympics and we selected her to be part of Team Toyota because we believe in her," Sessions said. After finishing fourth Friday, a U.S. Figure Skating committee was free to ignore the results and choose Wagner anyway under its rules, but they stuck with the top three finishers -- Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen. Wagner forcefully criticized the judging after she skated. Taub said he is in contact with all of her sponsors about how they can maximize their relationship over the next 45 days, which will not include the Games unless one of the three selected skaters drops out (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).
NO DEBATE WITH SELECTION COMMITTEE: U.S. Figure Skating President Sam Auxier was part of the 13-person selection committee and said the group's decision to take Chen over Wagner was "unanimous" and noted there was "very little debate" over the choice. In California, Scott Reid noted the selection team "followed a criteria announced earlier this season weighing eight competitions" to pick the Olympic team (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 1/7). NBC's Joe Fryer called Wagner's absence represents a "seismic shift in U.S. ladies figure skating" ("Today," NBC, 1/8). Fryer added Wagner not being selected is a "stunning turn" ("Nightly News, NBC, 1/7). USA TODAY's Christine Brennan noted there are several reasons why Wagner may have been left off the team, including the fact that "young, athletic Russian jumping beans are now dominating" figure skating. Skaters like Wagner and Gracie Gold "bring the total package that the sport ... use to reward, but doesn't seem to care about anymore." There is a "school of thought that U.S. Figure Skating said enough is enough." Additionally, when the judges determined Tennell was the likely winner of the overall, they "inflated her program component scores ... and summarily dropped Wagner's." One other reason could be officials "just might be tired of Wagner." She has been the "most quotable skater of this, or perhaps any, generation," having been outspoken about Vladimir Putin's "anti-gay propaganda law" prior to the Sochi Games. She also "continued to speak out during the 2016 presidential election," and that "kind of candor sometimes doesn't go over very well" (USATODAY.com, 1/6).
MORE DRAMA WITH MEN'S PICKS: USA TODAY's Brennan noted the "arcane ways of the U.S. Figure Skating selection process ... shined a bright light on the capricious nature of selecting an Olympic team any which way officials want to." Ross Miner finished the U.S. Championships second, but he was replaced on the Olympic team by Adam Rippon, who "has been on a roll this season but bombed in his long program" this weekend and finished fourth overall. If Miner was a "swimmer or a runner, he would have been headed to the Olympic Games." Brennan: "But because he is a figure skater, he (his fate, actually) was headed right to a committee meeting room" (USATODAY.com, 1/7). In S.F., Ann Killion wrote instead of talking about "Olympic glory and anticipation for South Korea," the men's program ended "with discussion about Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 weightings and with calculations being done on who finished in what place at previous competitions" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/7). Brennan said, "Why did Ross Miner spend the money to travel here if his performance didn't matter? ... It's a black eye for the sport." She added, "The bottom line is skating always has controversy. And here we are once again. It never, ever, ever disappoints" ("All Things Considered," NPR, 1/7).
