These things need to be mutually beneficial to all concerned...Ned Overrend has raced for Specialized since time immemorial and continues to do so in his late 40s. What Specialized get out of him is a guy who wins races, represents their brand well and helps the R&D team out by advising them on the changes he wants made to products and the edges he needs to win.
What Overrend gets out of Specialized is financial support to keep on doing what he wants to do - race bikes for a living - and products which allow him to compete at the highest level.
The relationship needs to be symbiotic - that's what a lot of teams and players seem to forget when it comes to sponsorship.
With regards to WDP and Dynasty specifically, both parties have been model examples of this symbiosis so far, but with Paintball new entering into the heady realms of sports agents, personal sponsorships and video game contracts, there are going to be some growing pains as players find their way into uncharted territories, and for good or bad, some old relationships are bound to fall by the wayside.
