I just watched day 1 of the USA Swimming Trials: USATF SUCKS

So again, what are some real solutions? The USSTF athletes are just settling and the athlete reps are bought and paid for. You cant expect Phil Knight to pay for everything but who is he in bed with at USATF?

If money were no object, then USATF could build and own a 9 lane temporary track (breaks down into pieces like an indoor track) that could be installed in retractable roof baseball stadiums. Sadly, most football facilities are built too tight to hold a track in order to put fans closer to the action. A place like T-Mobile Park in Seattle could host a Trials with a temp track and some temp seating. There is natural turf for all of the throwing events and hammer could be contested at University of Washington.

If USA Swimming can build THREE pools inside of an NFL stadium, then we should be able to build a track inside of a baseball stadium.

My wife and daughter are there with some friends...they are having a blast. The swimming trials have always been way more well done than track.

Swimming OTs are awesome. They always are. I love both sports but niether is exactly thriving outside of the Olympics. Still they can learn some things from each other.

I agree that USATF should try a track trials in the middle of the country, even if temporary stands have to be constructed at great expense to accommodate ticket demand.

Swimming announcing is also typically way better, at least compared to NBC track coverage.

I'd also like to see a team USA vs European All Stars dual in track. I know those exhibitions didn't last in swimming, but they were still fun.

Swimming needs a proper regular season equivalent to Diamond League. I enjoy watching a good Diamond league (even if they have their problems), but I have never gotten into a non-championship swim meet.

I honestly think elite running content on the interwebs is also quite a bit better than swimming content. There is no LetsSwim.com equivalent or even a CitiusSwim that really treats the elite sport as a separate and important thing.

Anyway it's cool some runners are noticing swimming. Would be great if USATF does as well.

This is the first time they've done that and they are charging a crap ton for tickets. To get the stadium over 20,000 I believe they ended up giving away a lot of tickets and having sales. A lot of the better seats didn't sell...

Funny you said that because swim fans thinks Rowdy Gaines is garbage. Looks like fans always have something to whine about.

Rowdy isn't perfect, they do need to try some new voices, but at least the swim announcers show some excitement. They are willing to talk about splits and don't make stupid comments like calling a women's 800 that goes out in 56.x a tactical race, etc.

I hope they get Phelps back in the booth for Paris. He had some great technical insights and I thought did very well in Tokyo.

Bottom line, everyone gripes about their announcing, but no one has better reason to gripe than track fans.

You can't compare T&F and swimming at all. Swimming is far more of a monoculture and way, way simpler to televise and commentate. To many people (myself included) it's stupifyingly boring to watch. They do all have shoulders to die for, though.

Imagine if max seagull’s salary was normalized to US Swim CEO and channeled to make the product better

Holding every major USA track event in Eugene is almost criminal incompetence.

People who don't watch track any other time will watch Olympic track and field. It's one of the pillars of coverage along with swimming. So the trials should be an exciting event for a city to host, bringing in those fans that only watch every four years to see it live. Instead it's in the middle of nowhere, where even die hard fans are sick of traveling after all the events there the last few years.

The head of USATF Max Siegel needs to be removed. He views the sport as a personal business endeavor to make himself money. If it wasn't obvious when Orlando was picked for the US Olympic marathon trials for the sole reason of providing Max and his family the opportunity to visit Disney, it should be obvious comparing these two meets.

Money that should be spent on growing the sport and hyping the trials up in the local area - ie all of the pac northwest for a Eugene meet, goes to Max's personal accounts.

This is how businesses run - a bunch of peons work to make money for some generational wealth inheritor or guy who lucked into the right place at the right time (or very rarely had savvy ideas). The problem is USATF is publicly funded - its US Track & Field not Nike corp track league or Max Siegel LLC track league.

Read this about the way USATF works behind the scenes:

runnersworld.com

Criminal Investigation Looks at the Financial Relationship Between USATF and Nike

A grand jury has subpoenaed records and contracts dating back to 2012.

Open link

Its incredibly corrupt. This is something you'd expect in a third world country.

And that is why t&f isn't highly viewed at the professional level in the US.

Different crowd at swim meets.

There is Swimswam, they are totally anal diehards.

Yes USATF is corrupt, that is why I first said that the whole lot in charge needs to go.

No the swim trials aren’t perfect, but they are already a F of a lot better than track trials have ever been, to my knowledge.

Eye-watering ticket prices, some corporates who don’t show up, some discounts, etc, It has all added up to victory, so far. They know their audience, and cater to them—and Swimswam has effectively taken over an entire bar/restaurant for those who want to meet up and follow off-site. It’s a total party.

swimswam.com

20,689 Spectators in the Stands at U.S. Olympic Trials; More Than Rio Record

Laura Rosado

The Lucas Oil Stadium has the capacity for around 30,000 swim fans and was expected to shatter attendance records once Trials got underway.

Open link

Where are these championships being held?

Downtown Indianapolis.

Indy

Thank you.

So a place with requisite tourist infrastructure then. And easy to get to and from. Cool.

Pool high jump (dolphin jump) and long jump all from swimming , "hurdles" where swimmers go up over a soft bar on surface of water,

Eugene has the best facility in the world, but it also at the end of the world. It’s hard to get to and the hotel infrastructure just isn’t there.

While the track is a little funky, Franklin Field in Philly would be better for Olympic trials. You have NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and DC all within driving distance for a day trip. Franklin Field is a historic venue, maybe the City and Penn would invest in it if every four years the track trials will be there.