Will running sports ever be popular in America?

It is the most popular high school sport by a significant margin.

What about professional sports?

Distance running is quite popular even with the drop off in numbers of race entrants.

But I do not see it becoming popular for spectators. Heck how many people running in any marathon know who won (other than when an American wins which is a pretty rare event.)

Luv2Run wrote:

Distance running is quite popular even with the drop off in numbers of race entrants.

But I do not see it becoming popular for spectators. Heck how many people running in any marathon know who won (other than when an American wins which is a pretty rare event.)

^This.

99% of the country knows who Tom Brady is. I could probably ask 1000 people who Dennis Kimetto is and maybe 10 would know.

it is wrote:

It is the most popular high school sport by a significant margin.

Where? Not in our high school. Nor the 20 high schools around us.

No, because it's not relatable from a viewer/spectator standpoint. Kirui did not look like he was going particularly fast when he broke away from the pack and neither did Kawauchi when he was chasing down Kirui. Desi looked smooth and relaxed after she took the lead, and only the most tuned-in viewers could notice the flashes of pain in her face during the last few miles. The average viewer does not understand how difficult it is to break from the pack and sustain the push to build a gap or close the gap. In fact, the elites make it look relatively easy.

For the most popular spectator sports, many fans have played the sports or watched the sports every week since child hood, so they have at least a basic understanding of what's going on. The spectacular plays are visibly spectacular. Meanwhile, the most important moments of a marathon race, the surges and breaks, are barely discernable from the rest of the race, aside from the formation of a gap or the pack turning single file. Dropping the pace down 10 sec/mile at mile 20 is basically impossible for an average viewer to notice.

Even as a runner, it's hard to understand. I have been running for 20 years and the longest I have run is 19 miles and only races two half marathons. So what happens to the body at miles 20-26.2, I don't really know, and I have no clue how hard it is to sprint at the finish.

what dat? wrote:

it is wrote:

It is the most popular high school sport by a significant margin.

Where? Not in our high school. Nor the 20 high schools around us.

I'm talking about national participation numbers.

it is wrote:

what dat? wrote:

Where? Not in our high school. Nor the 20 high schools around us.

I'm talking about national participation numbers.

Right, because Track and XC don't cut people...basketball, football, baseball all have tryouts or not everyone gets to play. Everyone gets to do events in Track and XC, it's more inclusive.

I watched this and was amazed what you could do if you made running seem cool:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267833/

They get 200+ kids on the cross country team just because they actively recruit freshmen.

No, the goal of running now is to finish and get a shirt.

running is not considered a sport by the vast majority of americans.

now, it will be interesting in 25 years to see what happens as demographics shift. personally, i think that video game competitions (aka e-sports) will take over professional athleticism in the next 25-40 years.

Most coaches in other sports use running as punishment.