Two Professional Track Leagues in 2016?

More info? I don't know anything about this...

Portland is scheduled to get a team.

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/260194-131546-portland-in-running-for-new-track-league

Problem for Paul Doyle was he blew off one of his biggest supporters in Texas. In a state that could have been huge that hurt and it didn't garner the support and the attendance sucked.

Another problem for Doyle is that he is kind of fuzzy on what a city looks like.

While I can see a benefit for the Eatons to be able to, say jump or throw, in "meets" rather than in practice, most runners doing events 400 m and further just can't add that many meets to their schedule and hope to compete with the best in the world when it counts. It's not like Eaton can do 8 decathlons a year either.

ml;cf980e4 wrote:

Another problem for Doyle is that he is kind of fuzzy on what a city looks like.

While I can see a benefit for the Eatons to be able to, say jump or throw, in "meets" rather than in practice, most runners doing events 400 m and further just can't add that many meets to their schedule and hope to compete with the best in the world when it counts. It's not like Eaton can do 8 decathlons a year either.

the elites will keep to the diamond league.

I don't see an inter-city league being anything but the c & b-team until it became popular enough to pay.

Has to use the low urinal wrote:

Problem for Paul Doyle was he blew off one of his biggest supporters in Texas. In a state that could have been huge that hurt and it didn't garner the support and the attendance sucked.

What happened in Texas? I don't know anything about it.

I don't see this thing working out regardless. It will come off like arena football or D-League basketball. Except for college sports people only want to see the very best athletes.

Elites will go where the money is.

Look at baseball and basketball. Both are international sports. Both have World Championships, but the prestige of the WC pales in comparison to winning in the MLB or NBA.

If a track league is ever to be successful, they will need to steal away Africans, Jamaicans, and others from road races and European track meets. This will be a few years down the road, but just like in the college ranks, it is inevitable.

A good runner in Kenya must start thinking "I am going to train hard to go to America and run for the New York Track Club and make X dollars." rather than "I am training to run the Boston Marathon and hope to get in the top-5.

The Diamond/Golden League is still very young (18 years). There are good matchups, but you would be hard pressed to find 50 people in the US who know who is on top in the standings in July of any given year.

NYC can not even support a Diamond League Meet- they now only sell between 3,5oo and 4,ooo seats without Insane $ Bolt on the card.

no market yet wrote:

NYC can not even support a Diamond League Meet- they now only sell between 3,5oo and 4,ooo seats without Insane $ Bolt on the card.

I'd say it's most important to carve out a niche though. If my local minor league baseball team can fill seats, I don't see any reason why a national or international track meet wouldn't. The key is making it an experience and building up a small, yet devoted fanbase. Because you know half the people at minor league baseball games aren't actually watching the game (or at least they aren't invested in the game). They're mostly there to just hang out and eat hot dogs and whatever. There are more logistical difficulties with track and building that fan base is always tough, but I don't think it's impossible.

no market yet wrote:

NYC can not even support a Diamond League Meet- they now only sell between 3,5oo and 4,ooo seats without Insane $ Bolt on the card.

The way that Diamond League meets are promoted is: Bolt vs. Gatling, or Defar vs. Dibaba, etc.

If a match-up is not attractive to a viewer, they won't tune in or show up in person. Also, no one has any clue what the Diamond League standings are. No one says "Wow, Dibab scored 4 DL points and is now 13% more likely to win the title this year!" The format is convoluted.

If we're looking at Portland TC vs. New York TC, then you may go primarily to see your favorite athlete, but you'll also be watching the long jump to see if they can bring your hometeam to VICTORY! Inherently, that is more likely to pull in spectators. At the end of a meet, you have a winning team and a losing team. Or if they go with a 3+ team meet format, then 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. It would be very easy to come up with a postseason format that would make every MEETING, every EVENT, and every PLACING throughout the year carry weight.

I'd like to see two professional leagues. One clean league and an anything goes performance enhancing league.

I'd love to watch professional doped athletes compete out in the open.

This has better emphasize team scores very heavily or its going nowhere

Crazy talk! China and India comprise 25% of the world and no one gives a damn about mlb there...nor does anyone in Europe.

Basketball has hundreds of pro leagues worldwide but sooner or later the best players wind up in the NBA, the only league that really matters.

Soccer's World Cup is easily the most popular and important champioship in the world.

Track and field can achieve similar popularity only by building on the Diamond League's rapidly growing worldwide popularity. It has increasing numers of athletes from all corners of thr planet. Trying to expand into multiple leagues too quickly, though, could dilute the talent enough to ruin a good and potentially great thing.

Love most of what Lanana does but this is precipitous. Too much, too soon. The Diamond League is still very new, it's already a big deal all over the world and growing fast.

F&T are participation sports. I.E. the only people who will pay for a ticket are those who are affiliated with the sport. There is no critical mass to support pro T&F in New York, Massachussetts, Washington, Oregon, and most states. There simply is not enough interest in running, field, and track to support a professional league. And there surely isn't enough non-affiliated fat bodies, smokers, winos, ex-cons, businessmen, children, teens, etc. to support F&T. Hell, NY, MA, WA, OR can't even fill a college field and track team with in-states and have to import most of who they compete with. The only states that have the critical mass are Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California.