I have some experience in sports and sponsors are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to the deals they make. It's definitely not about "wins" anymore. It is about reach to an extent, but it is more about activation (sales).

So do any of these people actually lead to sales? Their following isn't the same as The Rock per se. And The Rock is the number one athlete on Under Armour's roster. The conversion rate of the partnership with the Rock is one of the highest grossing in Sports Apparel and likely the Rock Brand, provided Under Armour doesn't go under can become as big as the Jordan Brand to be honest.

But I'm just not seeing that being a big thing in Triathlon, at least in North America.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Totally agree with you. What I wonder, is do some of these brands have any idea.
Certainly someone like UA has some much data, that would show "Steph wore X shoe during Wednesday nights game, and searches for that went up on the website by Y%" or the Rock posted while wearing this and now we track those sales.
Does someone like Fezzari have that kind of analytics behind them? I honestly have no idea. I think there are some people that want to "sponsor" someone for the sake of doing so. It is like the old marketing saying went "I know half my marketing works, I just dont know which half that is"
One thing I will say, I would say that I am into the tri lifestyle, and I did not know what bike Ironcowboy rode, (though I dont follow him on any channels either)