Hey USATF - DO BETTER!

Right because Eugene has so many professional teams everyone is scrambling to watch ! 😂

"USATF - Do Better!" A story as old as time. It's time for the next generation to complain about the USATF and how bad it is. Some of us have been trying to find a way to do something about it for 30 years. It's time for the next generation to feel the same old repetitive frustration.

The USATF does nothing to develop young track and field athletes. They should be funding or promoting youth track at the school level.

I can write a grant to get pickle ball equipment from their US team. Track should be the same way

^^^

Track meets in the US only attract family members of the athletes, their friends/mates/classmates, and coaches or serious aficionados. It's 8-10 hours of mostly nothing happening between bouts of action in small bursts. Then there are the events like the 10k which has everyone except LRC dudes snoozing. Even the premier event, the 100 meters, which is 9-11 seconds long, takes 30 minutes to setup and get run. The only event that gets everybody excited, the 4x400, is typically run at the very end of the meet and most fans have already left! But it is the most exciting event in T&F and it's because it's the closest thing to a team sport.

...Maybe all other sports are more popular than T&F is because rooting for a team motivates fans more than watching a random set of individual athletes.

False, Omaha has a population of nearly 500,000.

Why?
I made such a wonderful 25 year contract with Nike and I get a decent salary for it.

But... I have been told track is usually popular in Eugene, and it's their "thing."

I saved/spent heavily to go to WC in Eugene last year from the East Coast (and had an awesome time, FWIW) primarily because I KNEW the big names would all be there.

I probably wouldn't plan a trip to almost any other meet simply because I have no idea who/if any of the biggest names would be there. To me, that is the root of the spectator problem.

Eugene today is not the Eugene that filled Hayward Field for so many meets over the years starting with the Bowerman/Pre/Dellinger years. Many the diehards from years ago have aged/passed on and no longer attend. Like anywhere else in the US - there is low/declining in interest in Eugene.

What’s needed is USATF lead the way to innovate and pull fans back into the sport. Unfortunately, the current leadership seems incapable or worse doesn’t care so long as they get their fat salaries.

Can Sha’carri, Lyles, etc drive change?

what USATF could have done to have the World Record attendance for women's event.

Go to UPenn and setup a women's only track meet (only would have worked before Nebraska, but you get the point)

Only 2 people on the track at a time, winner in each race, and a race goes off every 5 minutes:

1x1 races:

100m Sha'carri Richardson vs Shericka Jackson

800m: Keely Hodgkinson vs Athing Mu

400m: Femke Bol vs Sydney McLaughlin

4x1 USA vs Jamaica

throw in a few field events but the keep the meet 60-90minutes long.

but basically just cater to women. That could have attracted a big crowd, marketing 101.

Nebraska Track program setting the example.

AD: How did the track team do at their meet?

Sports Information Director: Don't know, they didn't keep score until their conference meet.

AD: Volleyball team how did you do?
SID: They won 3-0, and added 92,000 x $25 to the school budget plus a nice check from BigTen TV Network. Plus all Nebraska students got the day off from school, so they love the program now.

step 2 - get rid of Vin Lananna

The Nebraska track program does just fine and has a ton of support, they are building a new 16.5 million track & field facility for them. One thing NU doesn't lack is money.

AD: How did the track team do at their meet?
Sports Information Director: Who cares? We have Jessica Gardner with 225,000 followers on Tik Tok and 127,000 on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/jessicagardnaa/

"Ton of support," does that mean they have fan support or just financial support? If it's fan support, how many fans buy actual tickets to their home meets? More curious than anything.

Which leads me to my greater point. Comparing the strongest volleyball fanbase in the world and their one-off marketing gimmick to a multi-day track and field championship isn't a worthy exercise. Where I'll agree with everyone else though in this thread is saying that USATF is truly pathetic in marketing the sport at-large and the people putting on major championship events in our sport in the U.S. are equally as horrible at marketing the athletes, events, etc. For all the money TrackTown gets tossed their way from Nike, Phil Knights, USATF, etc., I live in Portland and haven't seen, heard, or read a single shred of promotion for USAs this year, Worlds last year, any NCAA meet, etc. Our sport has a massive marketing problem. Not a participation problem. Not an event management platform. A marketing problem and one USATF, all collegiate teams, all professional T&F squads, etc. simply can't figure out.

It's Nebraska. What else do they have going on.

Icahn looked pretty filled to me

Omaha hosted the 2012? club track and field champs, the attendance was laughable.

Max Siegle is probably the least capable and most overpaid CEO I’ve ever seen. Guy spends more time on his car racing team than his USATF duties.