Cheapest way to go to Eugene for trials? Stay in Portland and drive over? Camp in Eugene?

This is all fine and dandy....except there is no availability during the trials...

People are not trying! I searched two guests, staying 6/21-6/30 (duration of the full meet) on Expedia and came back with 35 available hotel and short-term rental properties less than a 1:15 drive from Hayward for under $200/night. Air BnB returned 70 possibilities with the same criteria.

105 properties! More options if you could afford to pay more. Track fans are cheap, poor, unmotivated, or not very passionate.

BTW, this is within 1:15 north of Eugene and closer to Portland International Airport. Populated areas with plenty of dining, fuel, charging stations, groceries, restaurants, shopping, etc. Didn't even search south of Eugene or the coast where even more could be found.

The reason I gave the options I did was based solely on the OP saying "The cheapest". Well, you can't get much cheaper than car camping!

I agree that if you do just an hour of research, you'd be able to find plenty of places. Heck, I just found a 1 BR/1 BA house in Walterville, which is 20 minutes or so drive from Hayward for like $1600 for all 9 nights of the trials. Sits on a creek. Full fridge, washer/dryer. Microwave.

Can't really beat that.

You are trying to help people in good faith and I appreciate that. My beef is with the predictable chorus of LRC users than always seem to gripe that track is dying and it should be a huge deal in the USA but then turn around and list a myriad of excuses as to why they won't travel to see the sport that they profess to love. There is no cost nor inconvenience too trivial to destroy their ability to see the Trials in person.

I look forward to 2028 when they complain that hotel rooms and rentals in the Los Angeles Basin are all $1000+ per night, tickets are too expensive, and nightmare traffic all conspire to force them to watch in TV from their abode in Upper Bumfurk Falls, OH. Of course, they will watch while live posting about awful announcing and how they saw graffiti and homeless people in L.A. a decade ago when they went on a Disney vacation and L.A. must be 100x worse now.

I have given up on domestic track fans and this sport ever getting much play outside of Olympic years. I love my 15-minute bike ride or a quick Uber hop to watch events at Hayward but, I do sincerely feel that USATF needs to spread the love around to other sites. Sadly, because of cheapskate fans and the costs of putting on a proper WA elite level event, there is no other place in America with the facilities, the funding, and the weather to do it. If Eugene (and by extension, Portland) cannot fill up the place, then no state legislature or county level taxing authority elsewhere is going to pony up money for stadium renovations and infrastructure upgrades to host the occasional Trials, NCAA, or USATF championship meet.

Why wouldn't Nike, being a global company, want the US trials moved around the country? I understand their headquarters is in their 'backyard', but having the 'swoosh' flag fly in other parts of the country should be no issue for them. They are a marketing machine. A loose analogy would be when the NFL plays in Europe. Just expands their reach. Can you imagine having Nike flag take over Icahn stadium or one in Philly, Boston, Indy, etc.? Everyone in Eugene already loves Nike, time to convert us folks east of the Mississippi!

This is true. That's why I expounded on opening the green space within a few blocks from the stadium so there really won't be an excuse to not attend other than they just can't figure out how to get to Eugene whether it's finding time, transportation costs etc..

It's not a foreign concept to plan ahead, save, budget, get a few friends to go and camp along the way. Did it several times as a kid so I know it works. So, if all of the important meets are going to be in Eugene for all of the reasons mentioned, I think it's a good option for those on a shoestring budget.

In the stadium, spectators are similar to the athletes. Nobody cares what you are wearing or how much money you do or don't have. The athletes are competing in stripped down uniforms and trying to kick each others' butts no matter where they come from and the spectators are loving them for it. My interest is in filling seats. I think the USATF strategy is a little off with ticket pricing and they just don't care if they sellout or not. Simple math tells me that an adjustment on pricing to guarantee a full stadium would financially outperform a half full stadium at higher pricing. They just won't take the risk to find out. They know what they are doing to the fan base. I have been told that their ticket pricing is adjusted to be comparable to other regular season games of professional ball sports. They are trying to build a wealthy, sophisticated fan base for their events rather than just a passionate group that can't get past the local level for spectating. They would rather have empty seats than appeal to a poorer part of our society.

Now, all that bs being said, people who fall into that category probably have to make a lot of financial decisions on a daily basis. Everyone knows what inflation is doing to this country at the moment. My solution would be more for single, college aged athletes without families to support. Also, there's always the question of why adults don't bring bus loads of kids to fill seats. Well, that takes a lot of time away from working parents to help supervise but also to help do the fundraising. I've done fundraisers for teams that raked in thousands of dollars in a few hours so It's not impossible but again, we are talking about sacrifices and hard work which a lot of people don't want to do.

You'll fine hotels in town without exhobotatant prices. It happens every year. Eugene are not good host. They gouge until they find themselves begging.

Montreal in 1976 had a major sports stadium and field set up for camping! Cars, vans, hippy buses, tents. It was not Woodstock, though, they had amenities like showers and some vendors. Very reasonable charge and a degree of security you woukdnt find out on the street or in the woods. Community spirit and comaraderie! That and the fact that that there were ample tickets at the gate (held back for stragglers like me) made it a nice experience (that and Moosehead.)

Contact Sean Brosnan. I was told he has a huge Airbnb in the hills by pre’s rock. He’s hosting some Nike party on Wednesday during the break day. Either this guy robbed a bank or he really sold some script in Hollywood I’m hearing about. Either way it sounds like he has a huge place with plenary of rooms. I doubt he’ll get back to you, but it’s worth a shot. Better than sleeping in your car or camping.

That's what Im Talkin about brother! It would be so possible to do it where I described Im willing to bet that it would fill up faster than the lousy hotels in the area, people would behave, monitor and report problem a-holes that dont have any civility these days and the stadium would be packed. Im sure usatf would increase ticket prices but it might still be worth it as those that would save on housing would spend more on food, shirts etc. The combination of ineptitude from the city of Eugene and USATF are both major limitations lacking any sense if creativity or willingness to expand and reach an additional group of fans/spectators. They are of the mindset that the market they cater to is good enough and just arent inclusive toward other groups that love the sport. Im willing to bet that the group Im talking about ranges from late teens to 30s. Mostly those that would find a way to use their vacation time and expendable money to have the Olympic Trials experience with a very flexible lifestyle during their stay. It's just set up for a very particular class and economic group to be able to swing it. Life's full of choices though. If someone really wants to attend, plan ahead, work extra, budget, carpool, tent camp along the way etc...

#1: Amazon Park is for the enjoyment of Eugeneans, vast majority of whom do not care about track meets. Those ball fields are there to play ball on. Forget the hype and respect the locals.

#2: Eugene knows all about big campout events, and for the most part, they aren't held in town. Country Fair is in Veneta. Grateful Dead was allowed big camping, but at Autzen stadium where there's plenty of room and it's in noone's way. Ask USATF to rent Autzen if you really want to camp

Waaaa! I pay the same taxes you do, DOOFUS! Why dont you tell Eugene city hall to follow through with the Supreme Court ruling and start ejecting the homeless addicts and miscreants instead of just ignoring and continuing to follow Oregon law to make Oregon a magnet for degenerates of all types. All of Oregons population lives on less than 6% of its land. Maybe they can open up a full time camp in downtown Eugene for all "houseless" people in the state and just direct them there from everywhere else in the state. Maybe that would be a better cause for you to champion over a week of housing a bunch of people that drop a $hitload of money in your lap. You need to organize your city to reject track meets rather than complain about your neighborhood supposed misuse and abuse by tourism that pays for your parks. To be honest, outside of track meets and your hippy carnival out by Richardson Park, Eugene doesnt have a lot going for it. Better get while the gettin's good, Spanky.

Hilarious that the algorithms of this crappy site pushed this out again to the first page from months ago.

Nonetheless, I still stand by my position on the matter of Eugene and Oregon leadership. What a bunch of KOOKS! Oregon just got bluer so expect more of the same. So much potential, equal amount and more when it comes to blundering dillweeds for leadership in a socialist state that doesnt know it's butt from a hole in the ground. Nostalgia can only carry the track community so far in Oregon. The ONLY thing keeping it alive is Uncle Phil's generous contributions and his clinging to his memories which I understand. Once he's gone, you can count on Southern CA taking over the market. Probably for the better.

Eugene is not perfect but it looks a lot better now than it did in 2020 (the low point). The pendulum has swung away from the "homeless can do whatever they want" to "we need to clean this mess up."

Yes, the state is still totally blue (in every Statewide elected office) but even among Dems, the tide has swung to "clean this up."

This is a photo from about 1.5 miles south of downtown Eugene (on Amazon Trail). This is what it looks like on all my runs when I am in Eugene. Not too shabby: 60°, partly sunny with no humidity and all my mileage on bark-chip trails.

Open image

Not for long. It takes a while for the chemo to reach the tumor. The election nationally has broken the Democrats, and they are circling their wagons.

The problem in Oregon is nobody was mounting a serious challenge this time around. The GOP was value-testing and purging its strongest candidates. The RNC was not gambling on them. It's a game of swing states.

And no, the state is not "totally blue," look at the county-by-county results. Lane County is surrounded by a sea of red. If the GOP had run another Dennis Richardson they'd control the Secretary of State position; Tobias Read has a terrible reputation.

watch it on tv. too many rapists from california.

Well I guess 4 months on Oregon/Eugene/Hayward Field bashing is all the LRC algorithms will allow for another round so here we go:

80% of the state population lives west of the Cascades including Portland, Salem and Eugene. All completely blue governed and missmanaged into oblivion due to the rigged mail in voting system. Deschutes Co (Bend) is quickly becoming a homeless quagmire and infiltrated by CA and Portlandia with all the glory they bring in driving up home prices and a comfortable outdoor living style at the same time from both ends of the "rainbow" so they are as blue as it gets or soon will be as well. The rest of central and eastern OR is held hostage by the Kookoo for Cocoa-pops leadership for the last 40+ years hence the drive for "Greater Idaho" and the State of Jefferson. Wont happen but thats what rural OR wants. Also, all of OR populationives on 6% of the land. Their forests are completely missmanaged when they could use it as a renewable/sustainable source of income. But nope, no economic vision = annual unmanaged forest fires. Have I mentioned that Intel was denied expansion on chip production in the state that provides jobs and national security? What a bunch of morons. They are more interested in an uneducated constituancy that only has a vision for government handouts. Check their reading and math scores. 2nd and 4th to last in the nation. Oh, and Nike says screw you Trump, we'll build our factories in China and sell to the Chinese.

You cant fix stupid and momma says, stupid is as stupid does.

Do you expect Oregon to build anything sustainable in that environment? Time to mive track meets around the country regardless if uncle phils influence. Or just suck it and get your butts to hayward field and support the athletes anyway like a lot of people do. Or just complain here and dont do anything else.

Stay at the Motel 6 in Springfield.