Title sponsor Zappos.com runs away from marathon

The Las Vegas Marathon has lost its title sponsor, a falling-out caused by the race owner's struggles to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills to numerous local and regional businesses involved with the race.

Zappos.com, an Internet shoe and apparel company based in Henderson, notified Chicago-based Devine Racing last week of its intentions to step down as the title sponsor.

"As of late Friday afternoon, we sent a letter to Devine to terminate our contract," said Chris Peake, senior buyer and spokesperson for Zappos.com. "We did that solely for the reason that we were not happy with the way they're running things financially."

Devine Racing, through local public relations firm Kirvin Doak, acknowledged the letter was received at 8 p.m. Friday.

"We appreciate the relationship we have had with Zappos.com since August 2007 and its valuable role in helping us build one of the most exciting road racing events in America," chief executive officer Chris Devine said in a statement issued Monday. "We are very confident a new title sponsor will quickly be established."

Devine Racing had no further comment, therefore it could not be determined how the loss of sponsorship could affect the future of the race, which already has more than 2,000 entrants signed up for this year's event, scheduled for Dec. 7.

In August, Zappos.com entered into an agreement to become the race's title sponsor. It was a two-year deal, with Zappos.com holding an option for a third year, in a pact valued at $1 million in cash, goods and services over the three years.

Zappos.com fulfilled its 2007 commitment, but Peake said the company decided to end the relationship early because of negative publicity surrounding Devine Racing's inability to pay its vendors in a timely fashion, if at all. The company still owes money from its December 2007 race to a number of local businesses, as well as charitable organizations and even men's overall winner Christopher Cheboiboch.

In addition, the company owes money to some companies that provided goods and services for the 2006 race.

"We take our name very seriously, and I don't think that Zappos.com really wants to be involved in being behind Devine's financial situation," Peake said.

This is the latest in a series of money troubles Devine Racing has experienced. The week before the 2007 Las Vegas race, the Review-Journal reported that Devine Racing had only recently paid prize money from the 2006 race.

In April, the Los Angeles Times reported that Devine Racing was having problems meeting payroll with employees of the Los Angeles Marathon, another of the company's entities. The company acknowledged those problems, but it is not known whether the company's Las Vegas operation has experienced similar issues.

Devine Racing's backlog with Las Vegas vendors surfaced in a May 14 report in the R-J, after which Peake said Devine officials hadn't made Zappos.com fully aware of the severity of the cash crunch.

"It was definitely eye-opening," Peake said. "We were very disappointed that the vendors weren't being paid. We were like, 'Holy smokes.' We knew about some of it, but we didn't know it was that expansive."

Devine has said the company intends to pay all Las Vegas Marathon money owed by June 15.

Peake said Zappos.com officials held meetings over the past two weeks, and decided to terminate the contract because it regarded Devine Racing's response to the situation as insufficient.

"Friday was the first time I talked to them in a couple weeks," said Peake, noting he spoke to Devine Racing co-founder and vice chairman Bruce Buzil. "I don't know what was going on behind the scenes. ... He said everything was good and there was nothing to worry about. But Zappos.com just didn't feel comfortable with that response."

That said, Peake added his company doesn't want to see the race fail, saying if new ownership comes in -- a distinct possibility given Devine's situation -- Zappos.com would be interested in re-establishing its support of the event.

"Absolutely. We'd love that opportunity," he said. "Las Vegas is our home for the future, and we want to do as much as possible for the community in general and for the running community. That would definitely be of interest to us."

Contact reporter Patrick Everson at peverson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0353.