2012 trials in Eugene...

You're right, it probably would be cheaper to fly to Sacramento, rent a car, and drive 8 hours to Eugene than flying into Eugene po-dunk airport.

As for the drive, as soon as it starts raining you'll know that you're getting close. Once you max out your credit card at the Super 8 you'll know you're having fun.

No worries, hit up one of the many local meth labs and you'll forget your troubles. Just don't get caught with any on the Oregon JC campus!

California > Oregon in so many ways. But I guess Phil Knight wants to keep track a fringe sport. Money talks![/quote]

Live in California myself friend. Don't worry, the show will just move on without you. And my guess is the TV coverage will get better as well, so you can just sit in you're home in Modesto and rock out.

I love the Meth reference to Oregon though. It's like their are meth heads running around shooting tourists. Dude, whether or not there are meth labs you'll never notice. You may however notice the crime rates while in California.

ooo! maybe Carol Lewis won't be a commentator, then the trials will be really sweet!

Any damn place but suck ass Indy the deadest town in the deadest part of the U.S.A.

2010 USATF Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. We also are hosting NCAAs in 2008

Here is the full press conference video:

Part 1:

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&member_id=9&video_id=779

Part 2:

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&member_id=9&video_id=778

zapo wrote:

Great for Eugene, sucks for the rest of the country.

As opposed to any other city it's been in? Great for Sacremento, sucks for the rest of the country. Great for Indy, sucks for the rest of the country.

2010 is indeed in Des Moines, according to USATF release.

Awesome, THAT I'll go to. Eugene really is small-time if it's $250/night at the Super 8. There's no denying that there's a passionate pocket of people (with the backing of Nike pockets, of course) in Eugene, it'd just be nice to see similar pockets elsewhere in the country, as well, like San Diego or Boston or Philly, places where there is more than enough hotel space so that the rates can't be hijacked for the event dates.

2010 is indeed in Des Moines, according to USATF release.

Eugene is a great choice *one time* as was Sacramento, and it's arguably the best place in the country for a high-level meet. However, if the aim is to promote the sport of track and field throughout the United States, the US national championship site selections should rotate between a wider network of actively supportive locations. Concentrating athletics in one highly avid small market (rather than broadening its horizons and hands on exposure) will not readily promote the sport of track & field at a grassroots level on a national basis.

The USATF constituency really needs get off its collective ass and try harder to diversify its selection of site locations for its top shelf athletic competitions. For instance, I would like to see the Olympic Trials held in Philly. It's more affordable than NYC, although NYC is a good choice. The Penn Relays' meet organizers do a fantastic job packing fans in for the annual event, so the frenetic and knowledgeable fan support is there. Yes--it would be hot and humid at times, but doable.

Other off the cuff USATF Nationals/Olympic Trials site suggestions where fan support is proven and the atmosphere is dynamic: Denver, Stanford, Portland, Seattle, NYC, Boston, Los Angeles/San Diego, Chicago, maybe Austin, Jersey, etc. If necessary provide package ticket deals to youth clubs and college teams in order to fill up the stands if there is a shadow of a doubt.

Analyze the potential of less proven or mainstream venues where NCAA and top meets tend to sell out for more pre-selection evaluation criteria. Example: Who would think any place in Iowa would manage to draw 20K+ fans for the Drake Relays every year? The Mt. SAC Relays venue in Walnut, CA could also be a viable site possibility.

I would like to see them mix it up a little, but strategically so it remains a viably attended competition.

It\'s hard on the fans to have the yearly outdoor champs/oly trials in the disgusting heat and humidity of Des Moines, Chicago, Austin, Indy, Phily, NY, Boston. The altitude at Denver is not ideal. Portland/Seattle seems to support Eugene. San Diego has the OTC. Los Angeles is the undisputed track and field and olympics capitol of the planet earth, but has so many competing sports and entertainment attractions, they can\'t get AEG to finish the IAAF regulation stadium they once hinted at building. Des Moines is terrible weather wise, but you gotta have it somewhere else once it a while other than the west coast. So for the time being it\'s easy goin dude, Eugene and Des Moines is it.

Baseball fans will sit out in that "disgusting heat and humidity" for 4+ hour stretches in Philly, NY, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, etc. to watch their teams. Des Moines is no worse than Chicago or Milwaukee. LA only has baseball (two teams, one of which they hardly care about) in the summer, basketball is done by the time of USATF nationals and they have no pro football team. Track fans should be able to handle a couple of 3-4 hour sessions each day. Serve cold beer and the fans won't mind. The point about these larger (relative to Eugene) venues is that they have the facilities (airports and rooms and restaurants) to handle the kind of crowds that we should be expecting for a national championship in even a tertiary sport. Catering to (and caring about) only the core fanbase is a great way to stagnate and regress. Don't tailor the venue to narrow expectations, tailor it to realistic desires.

The thing is, even though the seating capacity will be less than other large venues it will get more press (more importantly good press) all around the country. The energy level will be so much more that the athletes and reporters will be excited to talk about it. It will actually affect more people in a positive way then if it was held at a stadium with seating capacity for 22,000 but obvious empty bleachers during the distance events and a majority of the crowd not knowing much at all about more than a couple events. The crowds that gather at Hayward field tend to be very knowledgable, very excited and very supportive of the athletes.

This is picked up and portrayed by the media in magazines, newspapers and on TV. That buzz spreads.

Despite a few handfulls of people dissapointed in lack of tickets or more challenging logistics, the massess will be served up a much better dish with the trials in Eugene.

Just wait until they roll around.

I've raced at Hayward at some big meets and I've raced at Drake. And while Drake was cool and there were a lot of people it really didn't compare. A lot of what fills the stands at Drake are teams of athletes, traniers and coaches. That will be quite different when it comes to the U.S. championships or Olympic Trials when a much larger ratio of the stands are filled with fans. We're talking about the difference between passion and joyfull observation.

Ducati Trip 2 Eugene wrote:

it will get more press (more importantly good press) all around the country.

This is picked up and portrayed by the media in magazines, newspapers and on TV. That buzz spreads.

Wishful thinking and entirely doubtful. Nobody except the T&F press will be there, make it too difficult for the mainstream press to get there and stay (in a time of increasing financial belt-cinching in the industry) and they'll skip it and just run the AP copy all week long. This hurts the sport.

Yeah but why make everyone suffer. Why not have a good time and enjoy the meet. MLB is at the bottom of the list of respectable sports (if you can call it that). If you want people to fly to a place that has rotten humidity just so you can have a meet close to where you live, then you suck too. Yeah I mean you. You selfish little twit, you suck. Penn, Drake, Austin, Indy, NYC, Boston, NC, Florida, Chicago are fine in the springtime, but suck in the summer. Even the locals get out of town or stay couped in in air conditioning.

This announcement means that 4 of the next 5 national championships will be in Eugene, and that's all 4 of the championships that will select national teams for major international championships.

In recent Olympiads, USATF hasn't been able to get a city to bid for a non-trials year (2002 & 2006) without also giving them one of the adjacent "trials" years (Stanford & Indianapolis respectively). This time, apparently Des Moines was willing to settle for what it could get.

This Gator says Duck-land is great.

The hold the goddamn meet in Fairbanks. Eugene doesn't have humidity? How is Seattle not better on ALL tangible counts?

Oh, and the term is "cooped", dummy.

How is Seattle not better? Are you serious? I've lived in Seattle 35 years. The support for top level T&F in Seattle is zero, zilch, nada. There is no suitable facility. Don't even get me started on Husky Stadium's narrow lanes, tight turns, and circulating cold winds, not to mention that the track surface is 18 years old and in sad shape.

Field events? On their crowned football rug? They don't even have a place to hold the hammer throw anymore at Husky Stadium.

No one attends T&F in Seattle. Go to some dual meets at U.W. and find out for yourself. Oops, U.W. doesn't have dual meets anymore. How was the attendance at the last couple of Pac-10 Championship meets in Seattle? Piss poor.

The Seattle print and broadcast news media know and care nothing about T&F. There is NO community support.

The only good thing happening for T&F in Seattle is the Club Northwest Summer All Comers Meets, held for 39 years, which were founded and still run by USATF President Bill Roe.

u r illiterate wrote:

Ducati Trip 2 Eugene wrote:

it will get more press (more importantly good press) all around the country.

This is picked up and portrayed by the media in magazines, newspapers and on TV. That buzz spreads.

Wishful thinking and entirely doubtful. Nobody except the T&F press will be there, make it too difficult for the mainstream press to get there and stay (in a time of increasing financial belt-cinching in the industry) and they'll skip it and just run the AP copy all week long. This hurts the sport.

Would you be one of those that said Lanana wouldn't come to Oregon? That Rupp would not be running there? That Oregon couldn't win cross nationals? That Track Town was dead or a myth of the 70's? That they wouldn't get the Olympic Trials?

There are certainly a handful of Oregon naysayers out there, and so far they've all been wrong.