Olympic Marathon Trials Will Not Be Streamed Online Live

But a scooter, a camera, and whatever other technology is needed to stream it. Charge $x and put on LR. I will pay x to watch the Trials on LR

2 hours of delayed coverage is the worst of both worlds that will make no one happy. The average sports fan doesn't have the attention span to watch 2 hours of running, when the top three have only a slim chance of making it into the top ten at the actual Olympics.

For the running fan, nothing less than live TV coverage or live streaming of the whole race will do.

This is a disgrace. Especially after NBC has been pleading with loyal Universal Sports Cable viewers to call their cable operators because Universal Sports to protest the fact that Universal Sports might be taken off cable on January 1st.

I don't think the Letsrun geeks that get up at 4 AM on a Sunday to watch the stream of a European Marathon(the same type of people that would watch the OT on-line) are going to cut into the ratings of the later broadcast of the highlights.

You can't win a major medal at a trials so WGAF ! I'd rather watch a reality show. Plus marathons have been a joke sport since Lance Armstrong was featured at the NYM.

So I can watch the Frankfurt Marathon live in the United States but I can't watch the U.S. Trials Marathon.

That is crazy!

If TV had enough ads sales then it would be live. But nobody gives a shit about a US only thon. Eat shit !

When are you people going to learn that Eugene OR is the ONLY Track Town USA.

Houston and the whole state of Texas doesn't desevre on national meet or marathon.

Only Eugene and Portland deserve NXN, USATF national meets, Olymopic trials, and NCAA Nationals.

Understand ?

Tracktown, USA wrote:

When are you people going to learn that Eugene OR is the ONLY Track Town USA.

Track, not marathon jacka$$.

This is pathetic to not have a live stream.

I said it before and I'll say it again. 2 hours of tape delay coverage means we will get 40 minutes of commercial breaks. 15 minutes of interviews with sponsors during the actual show. There will be 20 minutes of the top 3 in each race standing around with american flags and doing interviews (and they'll be showing the winner while the race for 3rd is happening). 20 minutes will be human interest stories. Which leaves just under 30 minutes to show both the men's and women's races. They'll show the start, then a few random places in the middle, then the last mile and finish. I can almost guarantee that they will give projected finish times in a race where time is meaningless. My over/under on the time of split screen used to show both races at the same time is 15 seconds.

Wejo/Rojo, you might not be able to convince NBC to do a live stream but you should at least try to get them to do a decent job on the race. Start by forwarding them a few points from the open letter to Craig Virgin about NCAAs.

The whole damn thing sucks anyway!

The Olympic course itself does not finish in the Olympic Stadium anyway, so what's the fu%cking difference if we don't see the Trails here in the US? It is an absolutely blasphemous, idiotic, tremendously stupid disgrace to the Olympic tradition not to have the Olympic Marathon Race ending appropriately in the Olympic Stadium. What in the hell, are they afraid to showcase the East end of London to the world? WTF!!!!! Having them run laps around the city center with double, even triple the normal amount of turns is pure stupidity! I think those that ran the course last year and gave it their thumbs up of approval simply did so because they were so grateful to have participated in someway with the decision making process even though they absolutely knew damn well in their hearts that it was wrong morally not to finish in the stadium!

It would be so incredible easy for them to start where they have planned, run the two or three circuits around where they've mapped out and then head strait up the A102 "Homerton High Street" directly to the Stadium!

Claiming that they didn't have enough money and man power is pure bullshit! It's not going to be like the London Marathon where tens of thousands of runners and spectators take up the streets for the whole day or days- Everyone is this race will easily be finished within 2 and half hours and all barricades can then come easily down! Why not then run all the god damn track events on the streets as well? Have the 100 & 200 hundred finish in front of Buckingham Palace????

So..... If your lucky enough to make the team in America and come to London, your are going to be entered in nothing more than a glorified

"Road Race" that is going to have an obnoxious amount of unnecessary turns and twist with no stadium entrance at the end of your life's dream effort!!! What a complete and dishonorable rip off to the athletes who may have trained their whole lives to get there! THis needs to be changed right now!!!! Somebody with some balls and medal credit needs to speak out right now and get this changed!!!!!!! I love Seb Coe but this decision is completely asinine!

I really believe Foster and Cram feel the same way about this but are afraid to speak out fearing that it will cost them their jobs at the BBC!

you might not be able to convince NBC to do a live stream but you should at least try to get them to do a decent job on the race. Start by forwarding them a few points from the open letter to Craig Virgin about NCAAs.

Are you joking ? NBC doesn't want to hear from fanbois and groupies. NBC wants advertisers. NBC wants revenue. The dumb ass redneck yahoo Ku Klux Klanmen in Houston and Texas doesn't have any T&F and running fans.

Remember, Eugere OR is the ONLY Track Town USA!

Somehow I don't think this would have happened had NYC gotten the Trials.

agree with last poster--this wouldn't have happened if NYC got the trials again.

i won't be watching a two hour tape delay with tons of commercials.

Let's see if we can change there mind. We've got 44 days.

http://trackfocus.com/distance/help-the-marathon-trials-get-streamed-live

How can the ~US 20K or the US 10 miler be streamed online, but the OLYMPIC TRIALS can't?!! Somebody please pay Flotrack or Runnerspace. This is just another example of how USATFs silly little rules hurts sponsorship involvement and thus the money for media coverage (and money for the sport in general).

wejo wrote:

I'm a huge proponent of getting the sport on TV and before as many people as possible. Streaming the sport just to its hard core fans is not a solution to the sports problems. This however just sucks for the real fan of the sport who can't make it to Houston.

Let me be Devil's advocate.

1) A real hard-core fan or parent will be there or can wait.

2) If you were NBC, why would you devote the resources/time to stream it for a few thousand and zero revenue when they are preparing to get it right for a few million?

3) I think actually having to wait until the show would create anticipation and be fun - if only the internet didn't exist. Few hard core people will be able to resist.

Think on the bright side, the letsrun traffic will explode.

This actually makes me sad. I don't need to repeat why this hurts the sport or what a stupid financial decision it is, it...it just sucks.

Hell, if commentating is an issue any number of us would gladly do it free. I know I would. I know that you, the person reading this, would too. Just awful.

I have just two words--no letters--for this discussion: BP (the even sponsor).

Track fans matter so little in the metrics of television marketing that NBC has more to gain by courting advertisers and casual viewers than it does "niche viewers."

It simply doesn't matter whether we watch or not.

I am someone who once drove six hours to watch the trials in person--but I don't think I could bear to watch the commercials and the shortened coverage of this one. I will read about it in Track and Field News. Just my personal opinion.

I wish USATF would wrestle this event away from USOC and let it succeed in the relative anonymity of hardcore fans.

someone needs to start a facebook page now about this. this backlash needs to be brought to nbc's attention. get some pros to 'like' the page and voice opposition then boom...live stream.