It's time to face the truth: The Diamond League needs to get better

McRunnin wrote:

There has been plenty of discussion about ways GST can improve, with many valid points and good suggestions (along with some caustic criticism). I think we also need to have an honest discussion about the Diamond League.

After watching the first two DL meets this year and comparing them to both GST and Athlos, it's clear there are many things the DL does well, but there are also many ways it needs to improve from a television presentation standpoint if it's ever going to get back to a major network or streaming provider in the U.S.

Here are the major issues I've observed with the DL presentation:

1. It feels cold and impersonal - Unlike GST and Athlos, the DL doesn't have any athlete video features introducing the audience to the athletes and telling their stories. We only see the athletes competing. On the start line, athletes in the DL are reduced to a name, their country, and their numbers: their SB and PB. We don't see a listing of their notable accomplishments, their Instagram handles, or anything else that might be interesting to the casual television viewer. After a race is over, the DL doesn't have interviews with the athletes. They show the times and some replay footage, and then they move on to the next event. There's no chance at all for the audience watching at home to meaningfully connect with the athletes as humans.
2. It's too scattered - During the DL Xiamen women's 5,000m, the coverage of the race cut away to the women's high jump four times. It kept going back and forth between the two events, doing justice to neither one. During the DL Shanghai men's steeplechase, after they switched back to showing the race from covering a field event, the commentator noted the order of the runners had changed and she didn't know what happened in the interim period that they were showing the field event. Not good!
3. It feels stale - Other than the pacing lights, which are no longer new, the DL seems like the same presentation we've been watching for years. Very little innovation or attempts to enhance the experience for people watching at home.

Let's face it, there's a reason NBC/Peacock didn't put up the money to keep the Diamond League. It wasn't popular enough.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the Diamond League presentation as it is, or do you agree it needs to get better? How do you think it can improve?

snowflakes wrote:

1. I agree, there should be interviews with athletes live. Other non diamond league meets do this like Millrose or Lievin in recent memory. I don’t think it’s that big of a problem though since most of the time there are media interviews afterwards which are posted on news sites and youtube. If you’re interested about a star, it’s easy to learn their opinion on a race. I disagree on needing athlete introductions, everyone knows the stars and if you don’t, you’ll make an effort to. This isn’t a team sport.

2. Agreed, but again this is not a huge problem. Any time something huge happened in a 3000/5000m, they would replay what happened.

3. There is not much that can be done for the viewer watching at home. I think this point is irrelevant. The diamond league tries to have events before and after like concerts but you just can’t make track more appealing than it already is. GST is no different. I haven’t seen anything special about GST other than background things that make it innovative.

The diamond league isn’t popular in the US because most meets are in Europe. Europeans will care much more obviously. GST is an attempt to make track big in the US.

McRunnin wrote:

Kickers usually win wrote:

None of that stuff matters and someone is not going to watch something they’re not interested in. As a fan of track, I would find it irritating. When I watch MLB or the NFL, the last thing I want to hear are athletes’ stories, and their accomplishments are common knowledge. If you saw the race, there’s not much the athlete can add to it in an interview.

Would having his instagram handle displayed, enhanced your viewing of Ingebrigtsen 3000m WR.

You're right about people not tuning in if they aren't interested. That's where promotion comes in. Track promoters need to find a way to generate interest via promotion. There's so much more they could be doing to draw people in. Then, once people are tuning in, there needs to be a strong presentation that keeps people watching.

Are you telling me you didn't enjoy that feature profile GST had on Alison dos Santos? Or the one they did on Grant Fisher?

MLB, NFL, and NBA games always have interviews with athletes when the competition is over. That's 101-level stuff. It's crazy that the DL doesn't do that.

The Instagram handles aren't meant for me. I'm going to enjoy watching the action no matter what because I'm a fan. But there needs to be a way to keep the interest of casuals. What they've been doing hasn't been working.

nobody watches, except euros who will watch anything wrote:

Diamond League is a sidekick to the Olympics, a place for athletes to fart around and do time trials. It has a champion, but absolutely nobody cares who the champion is, or remembers. Nobody tries hard to be the DL champion.

It makes things 1000 times worse to have a heats-style World Championships at the end of every odd-numbered summer. That means a national championships or trials earlier in the summer. None of it has anything to do with DL or with GST for that matter.

How does anyone expect either to be popular when it's the B league? You can skip both entirely and still become champion. Some athletes do exactly that.

So it's pointless to argue if GST or DL is better, when neither can ever be popular. This will never change until the Olympics and World Championships end, which I know they won't. Too many people would cry about it. Even ending the Olympic marathon would freak people out, and it's not the championship marathon by any means.

McRunnin wrote:

There has been plenty of discussion about ways GST can improve, with many valid points and good suggestions (along with some caustic criticism). I think we also need to have an honest discussion about the Diamond League.

After watching the first two DL meets this year and comparing them to both GST and Athlos, it's clear there are many things the DL does well, but there are also many ways it needs to improve from a television presentation standpoint if it's ever going to get back to a major network or streaming provider in the U.S.

Here are the major issues I've observed with the DL presentation:

1. It feels cold and impersonal - Unlike GST and Athlos, the DL doesn't have any athlete video features introducing the audience to the athletes and telling their stories. We only see the athletes competing. On the start line, athletes in the DL are reduced to a name, their country, and their numbers: their SB and PB. We don't see a listing of their notable accomplishments, their Instagram handles, or anything else that might be interesting to the casual television viewer. After a race is over, the DL doesn't have interviews with the athletes. They show the times and some replay footage, and then they move on to the next event. There's no chance at all for the audience watching at home to meaningfully connect with the athletes as humans.
2. It's too scattered - During the DL Xiamen women's 5,000m, the coverage of the race cut away to the women's high jump four times. It kept going back and forth between the two events, doing justice to neither one. During the DL Shanghai men's steeplechase, after they switched back to showing the race from covering a field event, the commentator noted the order of the runners had changed and she didn't know what happened in the interim period that they were showing the field event. Not good!
3. It feels stale - Other than the pacing lights, which are no longer new, the DL seems like the same presentation we've been watching for years. Very little innovation or attempts to enhance the experience for people watching at home.

Let's face it, there's a reason NBC/Peacock didn't put up the money to keep the Diamond League. It wasn't popular enough.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the Diamond League presentation as it is, or do you agree it needs to get better? How do you think it can improve?

McRunnin wrote:

There has been plenty of discussion about ways GST can improve, with many valid points and good suggestions (along with some caustic criticism). I think we also need to have an honest discussion about the Diamond League.

After watching the first two DL meets this year and comparing them to both GST and Athlos, it's clear there are many things the DL does well, but there are also many ways it needs to improve from a television presentation standpoint if it's ever going to get back to a major network or streaming provider in the U.S.

Here are the major issues I've observed with the DL presentation:

1. It feels cold and impersonal - Unlike GST and Athlos, the DL doesn't have any athlete video features introducing the audience to the athletes and telling their stories. We only see the athletes competing. On the start line, athletes in the DL are reduced to a name, their country, and their numbers: their SB and PB. We don't see a listing of their notable accomplishments, their Instagram handles, or anything else that might be interesting to the casual television viewer. After a race is over, the DL doesn't have interviews with the athletes. They show the times and some replay footage, and then they move on to the next event. There's no chance at all for the audience watching at home to meaningfully connect with the athletes as humans.
2. It's too scattered - During the DL Xiamen women's 5,000m, the coverage of the race cut away to the women's high jump four times. It kept going back and forth between the two events, doing justice to neither one. During the DL Shanghai men's steeplechase, after they switched back to showing the race from covering a field event, the commentator noted the order of the runners had changed and she didn't know what happened in the interim period that they were showing the field event. Not good!
3. It feels stale - Other than the pacing lights, which are no longer new, the DL seems like the same presentation we've been watching for years. Very little innovation or attempts to enhance the experience for people watching at home.

Let's face it, there's a reason NBC/Peacock didn't put up the money to keep the Diamond League. It wasn't popular enough.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the Diamond League presentation as it is, or do you agree it needs to get better? How do you think it can improve?