Reuters runs piece today saying lack of "local interest" at 2022 Eugene Worlds was "baffling." Really?

I'm originally from Chicago but live in Switzerland now. We've got lots of opportunities to see high-level althletics meets around Europe. Sometimes the stadiums are empty but yeah, they almost all take place in real cities (though some are small in population but that's off-set by the small size of some countries and the great public transport network). One thing I've never understood is why there's no big meet in Chicago. Track/XC and running in general is huge there. Between all the people who run/ran in HS, the parents, the hobby runners doing the Marathon, the plethora of colleges with running programs in the area, you'd have to think a high-level meet would get a huge draw. Plenty of hotels, huge airport, some rail connections, a fun city to showcase....

My speculation is that this is a build up piece to perhaps test the existing audience and hone best practices to engage them further on this topic. Perhaps they are strategically using this to link back to at a later date in an opening paragraph.

It's negative. It suggests a lack of interest (i.e. provoking the thought why the lack of interest?). Is it a marketing problem? Or is it a public perception problem?

The doping world consisting of WADA, USADA, ITA, et al. threw us a single bone of many with Rudolph Ross recently. If this 12/05 report is accurate, there should be plenty more coming:

ita.sport

The ITA concludes the sample re-analysis program for the Olympic Games London 2012 - International Testing Agency

Keeping Sport Real

Open link

So maybe Reuters, deemed a most politically neutral news source by academics across the USA, has an information piece coming up.

Yes! This right here. And, it's all about presentation.

Last year I did a very informal poll among my 109 high school students.

I asked how many watched the super Bowl- 106

I asked how many paid attention to the game- less than half. Most said it was on just because and for the commercials and half time show.

I've been to Super Bowl parties where I'm the only one watching the game.

People are pulled in by the presentation.

Even the World Cup in Soccer does a better job of making it an event beyond the sport.

You sound surprised that the biggest sports event in the world besides the Olympics does a good job of marketing.

Well put. As I keep telling the mindless runners on here, nobody in the freaking U.S. cares about track & field except for athletes, coaches, and families of athletes.

I've said this so many times many times and no one will acjknowledge:

I'm old enough to remember when people DID care. They filled stadiums (YouTube the 1971 Ryan-Liquari Dream Mile in Philadelphia.

The Millrose Games filled Madison Square Garden. There were weekly indoor meets around the country ON TV and people filled arenas and watched.

T&F was out marketed by other sports

I don't sound like anything you fool. It's a typed comment and I'm talking about the NEED for marketing.

To most Americans, the only thing more boring than track is field.

You are helping make my point. I am a HUGE NFL fan but would skip the Super Bowl if it was there as I have been to Miami and wouldn't want to deal with the cost and hassle of finding accomodations and tickets when I can watch it from the comfort of my own in HD on my couch for free. if the Super Bowl went to a city, I'd never been to, let alone a city I'm not at all the time, I'd be MUCH more likely to attend. Which would you rather do? Go to Eugene for the 8th time to see Worlds or take your kids on a European vacation and go to WOrlds in 2023 in Budapest?

When a Super Bowl comes to a city, many people flee and put their houses up on Airbnb.

King Max I of USATF should have build a temporary track in a NFL stadium like was done a few years back in Glasgow UK for the Commonwealth Games

In local news (local to planet earth), fake journalist Rojo takes time out from trolling his own message board to criticize real journalists

If you are going to be corrupt awarding championships, at least, hold it at venues that have a decent stadium size, rather than a high school gym that was used at Eugene. It was nice, but absolutely ridiculously small. And not sold out most days. Pathetic effort all around.

Has anyone looked at the ticket prices in Budapest compared to Eugene? Ticket prices in Budapest are about 1/4 the cost they were in Eugene. Housing is also about 1/4 the cost it was as well. While I had a great time at worlds this year, many people cannot afford the expensive cost of tickets and hosung in Eugene Lack of affordable options in a remote part of the country is why the event did not sell out.

We track rats hate to admit it but this is 100%. Most people have no clue about track or the stars of today. They may know Bolt or Felix but that’s about it. My friends and colleagues have a glaze over their eyes when I talk about the Worlds or US trials. Honestly they just don’t care. To them it’s boring to see heat after heat, race after race with nobody special to focus on. Let alone travel across the country for it. Shouldn’t be “baffling” to anyone. That’s why I crack up with all these runners who think they’re IT and get themselves into Wikipedia like they’re some of kind of historic, famous person. LOL

It's almost as if holding the games in a larger city with more accommodations along with alternative things to do creates the right balance of both competition and supply/demand to keep the prices down. Who would have though basic economic principles applied to track and field events?

In the UK, every single person knows who Sir Mo Farah is. Track and field gets a lot of coverage on the BBC. No one cares about running in America you should say.

And one way to ensure that this continues, is to hold a world champs in a tiny town, with no accomodation, in a tiny stadium, with high ticket prices - oh, and in the place that is already apparently already track and field fans.

You know how to get people to go to a world championships and you know, GROW the sport. Hold it in one of your 10 or so cities of 1 million people plus, make it affordable, advertise! in said city. It's not that hard.

London 2017 was sold out (at least every evening session was). Budapest will be a welcome return to a real world championships.

Qatar was arguably better than the Eugene champs - when they let in the east african migrant workers for free (lol). At least there was more than 15,000 people in the stadium.

We make it difficult to watch t & f in person or remotely. Beside the races, the most posts on a thread are often where to find a WORKING LIVE stream. Too many events are pay walled, delayed etc. The sport is going to have a hard time surviving, let alone grow when it is in a bubble.

No sensible human sets foot in a "blue city." Homelessness, literal sh!t everywhere, clotshot mandates, murders, endless corruption.

I agree. Every T&F event should be as easy to find on television, actual TV not just streaming.

Well, that’s just not true. Oregon is one of the most beautiful states in the country.

I will say that as a local, it was a small turnout compared to what was hyped. The city was planning and preparing the community like it was the full on Olympics coming to town. I got my moneys worth getting a cheap morning session ticket through work to see the men’s 10k and then riding my bike alongside the marathons for free.

I will also say, the stands were more full than they appeared on tv.