Mikulak is currently sponsored by MateBros, a beverage company he co-foundedGETTY IMAGES
Male gymnasts "haven’t captured the imagination of American spectators" in the same way that women's gymnastics has, as the women are "by far the top earners and also the top champs," according to Mary Pilon of the N.Y. TIMES. Just a few more than 2,000 people "attended Day 1 of the men’s program of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships" recently in Boston. The crowd on the first day of the women’s competition was "more than double that." Silver Medal-winning U.S. gymnast Johnathan Horton said, "We need some kind of mass marketing plan to get more people in the seats. Throw a U.S. championships and say tickets are a dollar, I don’t care. We just need to get butts in seats. We need to do something just to fill these arenas and get people seeing it. Once people can see it, make it fast-paced and fun, it will grow." Pilon notes while the gift shop at the U.S. Championships "brimmed with women’s leotards for sale, none of the singlets or socks-and-stirrup pants that the male gymnasts compete in were being peddled." Sponsors have been "eager to back the biggest names in women’s gymnastics ... but the biggest American male in the sport, Sam Mikulak," is currently sponsored by MateBros, a beverage company he co-founded. After the disappointing finish for the American men in the '16 Rio Games, fans and coaches who "love gymnastics mused about what could be done." A generation or two ago, gymnastics was "seen as a more viable athletic endeavor for young men." But in today’s "varied youth sports tapestry ... it has garnered less interest" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/28).
