England attendee wrote:
The attendance at the world champs will be underwhelming I’m afraid. It’s going to make Qatar look like a sold out crowd.
Eugene, Oregon is just soooo remote for most of the world.
think about it
how many people will go to Eugene, OR from Europe? How many from Asia? How many from Africa?
only Dedicated track and field fans with $10,000 of spending money will be attending from outside Oregon.
I am going and am from outside Eugene not spending $10K for the two of us.
Kind of off-topic (or maybe not?), but the 1972 OT at UO were considered by many to have been the greatest track meet of all time. Yes, including previous OGs. And the stands were packed.
Juicing was rampant, with no real way to detect it. The meet included the marathon trial. Too close to the Games? The US men went 1-4-9.
Fun to see the teenaged Dwight Stones in the HJ.
Crazy to think all of that was 50 years ago now!
We're post cold war track and field, track and field meant something as far as American superiority and strength compared to the Soviets. Now the patoroitatic fever that was associated with athletics isn't there anymore. So even if you are a runner, there's so many more and diverse running events now compared to the cold war area. Look at what also happened this weekend, the Western States 100. Which even though boomers on this site hate, is the biggest trail 100 miler in the US. Where to be a spectator just meant hiking to whatever part of the course and enjoy the outdoors. Not sure about you but if I were to travel this last weekend to the West Coast, I would've picked the latter to go watch.
Huh, really? wrote:
I am sure the cost of gas, cost of airfare, and cost of rental cars had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
No, not at all! It was the cost of the hotels. (sarcasm intended)