mcordi wrote:
I don't see how Nike offering a team and individual race (something Footlocker should have done years ago) is bad.
If NXN wins out in the long run, it won't be a bad thing after FL ceases to exist. But for right now, they basically sized up the current high school cross country scene, and said "Hey there's Footlocker, the pinnacle of individual competition for high schoolers. How can we detract from that as much as possible?"
I understand that Nike tried to work out some compromise with the FLW region but that was far from the only place where the individuals were screwed over by NXN scheduling.
NXN has definitely won the image battle over 16-17 minute 5Ker's and coaches at schools where they got lucky enough on the size and socioeconomic factors that help produce good xc teams. Right now though, for the 15:low and 14:high guys, Footlocker is king, which is what matters for them to bring the best of the best. There was a definite drop-off in 20-40 at Footlocker but that could be largely attributed to the fact that Northeast and South randomly went from "bad" to "shitty" this year and could easily bounce back to just being "bad" next year. 1-20 for all practical purposes had everyone needed.
I agree though that Footlocker needs to change something. They are still be king for individual competition, but with how fast Nike is adapting that may not last long.