Hello XO,
I have been procrastinating on making this final decision for far too long now… You have probably heard through the grapevine that Team XO may be closing up shop so I wanted to give everyone the scoop.

As all of you know, Team XO has been very hard to maintain over the past 6 years. And to be honest, the team would have folded years ago without the support and energy from you guys and the community. The business model for XO was based on a small team that was easy to manage and relatively cheap to run, but as the years passed by, the team kept increasing while the budget stayed the same, which forced some tough decisions… As the money shortfalls increased I continued to make up the difference with my personal money in hopes that someday a sponsorship of $10,000 to $20,000 could take over the yearly financial burden. We had some amazing support over the years from OTC, SportHill, Nike, Eugene Running Company and countless other individuals and businesses, but the financial gap was still overwhelming. With countless failed sponsorship attempts it became clear that companies were not interested in major support of post collegiate athletes at our level.

I have been asked on many occasions how long this trend could continue… The answer was always, “If we can’t get interest from a major sponsor in this Olympic year, with all the extra buzz, then that is when I know we should throw in the towel”. It is sad that our sport only gets treated like the stars that they really are three weeks out of every four years.

I have always believed in the sport and plan on continuing that passion through RunnerSpace. It is my dream that one day the average jogger will see what we see every day… That there are more similarities, than differences, between a jogger that runs 3 miles a day for fitness and a world class 5000 meter runner going for the gold. If that population can keep interest in our sport between Olympic Games… imagine the possibilities!

I will continue to keep the Team XO organization operational for the XO Invite/Oregon Relays (but dormant on the team side of things) and to tie up any loose ends… and maybe for a possible resurgence in a few years if I hit the lottery… But as for team entries, uniforms, team affiliations, travel, sponsor benefits, etc. Team XO will no longer exist as it previously has.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and keep rocking the XO gear if you like! I hope you all can feel proud for being a part of one of the best post grad track and field teams on the planet!
Ross