makerunninggreatagain wrote:
I appreciate the intent of Michael Johnson and team, as any niche sport needs people willing to take risks to try and push the sport forward. And I like Kyle Merber and think he generally has had good thoughts over the years on what track/running needs to do to enter the mainstream, so him signing on somewhat helped validate to me that Grand Slam Track could be legit.
But I just don't get how Grand Slam Track's current format is one that would attract anyone who's not already a serious running fan. And I was slightly put off when they started making big announcements every time they signed an athlete to join. I get that you need to create hype/branding around the league somehow, but the whole point of Grand Slam Track and the only way it's ever a success is if it's something top runners find prestigious and automatically gravitate toward (think the tennis/golf majors, which Grand Slam Track is clearly trying to model after). Making big announcements that you "signed" X top athlete goes against that narrative.
The only format that might actually get the mainstream population to care about watching professional running is if you lean into the aspect of running that actually makes it unique compared to other niche sports - there are an egregious number of people who run who currently do not watch professional running. Why would someone not set up meets where the general public can go run a mile around a track and then after several general public heats you have the pros do it at the end? It's like a major marathon except the normal runners can actually watch the pros and directly compare how they felt during the run to how the pros look in the same race on the same track on the same day. The general running population genuinely has no idea how impressive these athletes are, and this would help with that. Is this something that's been tried already?
Even if that doesn't work, I think it's more unique and has a better shot than expecting non-running fans to watch 2 days of athletes run one event that they're good at and one event that they're not as good at.
Have you watched boxing events? During most of the undercard fights, spectators don’t show up, and people don’t tune in, until last two or three fights. Your suggestion would be a glorified all-comers meet.