1) Hobbyjogging. The elite level of any sport must seem at least somewhat mythical/exclusive in order to entice viewers. If your average suburban mom who "placed 3rd in their age group" (humble) brags loudly enough to their friends, it is likely that their opinion of olympic distance runners every four summers will be significantly lower than what it should be. Golf, the only other American sport remotely like running in terms of community participation, takes care of this by directly comparing elite golfers to their recreational counterparts via the handicap. You'd think you could do this with running too, but unfortunately most people seem to think that an 11 second 100m is "less than two seconds away from Usain Bolt!".
2) There is not enough petty drama between track and field athletes. I'm not talking about the really problematic "government paid citizenship state run doping program" kind of drama. I'm taking about the kind of petty drama that a) inspires trash-talking during the course competition and b) gets people tweeting.
3) There are no teams to root for, only individuals, and no one roots for individuals. In college, teams go different ways during the season to find each event group the best possible venue to get some good marks in. In the post-season, very few schools actually qualify enough athletes so as to be in contention for a team prize. Professionally, there aren't really any teams at all. People watching road races such as the Boston Road Mile go by likely have no knowledge of WHO even someone like Drew Hunter is. They therefore had no incentive (even as he got the win) to watch him spike up this past weekend for the Pre Classic. There are fans at every event, sure, but they are actually only fans of the event itself. Runners themselves have long been unable to transcend running, and this is only worse for field athletes. They tried to alleviate this problem a bit with the advent of the "Summer Series" meets, but then they added an EliptiGo mile to the program and we are back to my first reason.
4) Track and Field athletes give TERRIBLE interviews. Nearly every interview I have ever seen has included at least one of the following tendencies:
-Credits the entirety of their success to a higher power in such a way that they appear almost unconfident in themselves.
-Uses outdated slang terms in a cringey manner.
-A complete inability to answer the actual question being posed.
-An unwillingness to "reveal" too much about oneself or ones training.
It's tough to relate to people who make no effort to relate to you.
5) Delays. One of the main gripes Americans seem to have with non-American sports that are much more popular in other countries is the lack of continuous action. A well-run track meet actually has the potential for continuous action, but the key here is that it is well-run. All too often, people are waiting inside an action-less stadium.
6) Lack of highlights. The best athletes in pretty much all other sports have 1-minute video snippets of their best plays from a recent contest shared on all social media platforms. I'm not sure how you present a T&F athlete in that medium.
7) FloTrack. Everything FloTrack does, with the exception of the Kick of The Week and Workout Wednesday (both free) videos, is completely killing T&F in the US.
8) Sitting and kicking. Everyone loves a fast finish. What no one likes is watching a bunch of 3:55 guys run 1200 at 4:30 pace before actually showcasing their ability.
9) Regular men are emasculated by fast women.