Yep, and they just focused on LA for Adidas. What a joke and waste of money. Any potential track fan who saw the empty stadium is sure to get hyped to start going to track meet. It was a disaster to pitch all this TV money at the LA pit of a track meet...poorly run, poorly attended.
That's so funny ! Penn Relays, Texas Relays, Drake Relays, Mt. Sac Relays, Azusa-Pacific U, Cal Poly SLO U, UT, WSU, UF, UNC, Clemson, USC, Miami, Tennessee, LSU, UCLA, etc. were the home tracks the 29 U.S. Olympians who brought home a medal from Beijing. Hayward Field had no athletes, none, nein, nada, zero, punto, zilch, zip.
Local seat sales don't mean much in this day and age of HDTV and Internet-2. Meets only have to be on the networks, FOX, ESPN, or on FT, RS, DS, MS, and more. The world is your oyster.
Have to Laugh at You wrote:
Yep, and they just focused on LA for Adidas. What a joke and waste of money. Any potential track fan who saw the empty stadium is sure to get hyped to start going to track meet. It was a disaster to pitch all this TV money at the LA pit of a track meet...poorly run, poorly attended.
And where would you have the meet genius? Eugene? New York? They already have track meets. Heaven forbid they try to have a track meet in an middle class inner-city location, where most of America's medalists come from! What a disiaster. Yup, track meets should be exclusively in places like Stanford, where annually tens of tens of people show up.
The dirty little secret is that there are about 2000 true track fans in Eugene Orrgon, not 10,000. They show up and support their track but its only 2000 people, not 10k. The rest come fill the stands because its a big meet. they come from everywhere.
So what your trying to say is that they come to, clap clap clap, Oregon, clap, clap, clap.
The Oregon crowd has to be pretty good to convince Hasay...
come to Oregon clap clap clapclapclap Come to Oregon...
WHAT A SAY NOTHING POST, THIS IS NOT A FOOTBALL FORUM, AND YOU DID NOT "CAME UP," YOU GREW UP YOU EFFING HICK.
LA TRACK AND FIELD CROWDS, DID YOU NOT JUST SEE THE MEET IN CARSON? YOU COULD HAVE FIT THE ENTIRE CROWD IN HALF OF THE SMALLEST TEMPORARY BLEECHERS IN EUGENE...
TO BE BIG TIME, YOU HAVE TO BE BIG TIME.
EUGENE IS BIG TIME.
ASK THE ATHLETES.
THERE IS NO WHERE IN THE USA THE ATHLETES WOULD RATHER COMPETE THAN IN EUGENE. SACTO COULD ONLY FILL THE STANDS FOR THE FINAL DAY OF OLY TRIALS OR NCAA'S. OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS DRIPS AND DRABS...MOST OF THE FANS BEING FAMILY MEMBERS OF ATHLETES...
I agree with you. Eugene does seem to be the only big time track and field venue in the USA (unless you want to include the Penn Relays, but that is another thing altogether). I cannot understand why anyone who loves our sport would knock Eugene. They always treat me well when I go there and they do understand and appreciate track and field.
NY is Big TIME!!!!!!!! every year in New York sells out. Eugene is small town rednecks that suck Vin's small little Di@#.
Every year NYC sells out what?
Their ass to drug dealers?
NYC all the way wrote:
NY is Big TIME!!!!!!!! every year in New York sells out. Eugene is small town rednecks that suck Vin's small little Di@#.
now that is very funny
Every? wrote:
Every year NYC sells out what?
Their ass to drug dealers?
the reebok grand prix sells out every year
Anyone who hates that Hayward/Eugene is the center of American track these days needs to realize that track is a fringe sport at best and few people give a shit outside the olympics. Having an American venue where people are knowledgeable and care is a good thing for everyone. Galen Rupp is a good thing for everyone.
better for all wrote:
Anyone who hates that Hayward/Eugene is the center of American track these days needs to realize that track is a fringe sport at best and few people give a shit outside the olympics. Having an American venue where people are knowledgeable and care is a good thing for everyone. Galen Rupp is a good thing for everyone.
This is true.
It is a sad fact that track and field has declined here in the past decades... It is in danger of not even being a fringe sport. In fact I think it is now less than a fringe sport.
I laugh at when people brag about the attendance of certain relay meets. How many people without a relative or a friend in the event do you really think attend those events? --Even at Penn.
There's not a lot of local citzenry who care about these things any place in the USA. Except Eugene.
The sad appearance is that American "culture" has moved beyond caring about track and field. The rest of the world doesn't have our pro sports distracting them.
Pong, cable tv, Costco sized food, soccer and more killed track and field in the USA...
I agree only Eugene cares about T&F.
But then small towns in the South have 40,000 for high school football and it's not for money or for elites.
Elites need money to live on.
For our sport to grow it must be showcased in the best possible places, under the most optimum conditions.
TV advertisement revenue in the most important of all.
Attracting the east coast TV audience is of supreme importance given that's where the majority of the U.S. population resides.
Having meets where the superstars live and train helps cut down on expenses for what is normally a battalion sized group.
5-star accomodations and 1st Class airfare that the meet organizers must bear are outrageously expensive.
Plus, who doesn't want to run at a meet in your own backyard.
The Adidas meet in Carson this past Saturday had the right combination of these requirements.
I hope to see more specialized productions at Home Depot, such as a 1 hour World Class Distance Carnival using 2 tracks simulataneously, and a 1 hour World Class Sprint/Hurdle special, etc., both with ONLY Olympic and IAAF WC (indoor, outdoor, senior cross country) medalists invited.
We need to continue the innovation we saw at Adidas on Saturday.
We need new ideas, new packaging, new media from TV producers, Doug Logan, Mark Wetmore, etc. to carry our sport forward.
Here's my opinion: I have fond memories of competing at and attending major meets at Hayward Field, especially the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic trials. But times have changed, the sport is very different, and other than the Prefontaine Classic I will not attend another meet there - I did not enjoy what was presented last year at the trials, e.g., cramped seating, limited access, corporate excess. I hope others continue to attend, because the venue is truly magical and steeped in tradition, but Hayward Field and the sport of t&f will never be what they were back in the 1970's and 80's.
P.S. Went to Pre's rock for the first time two weeks ago, and it affected me profoundly - brought back what a tragedy his accident was.
mjones wrote:
Here's my opinion: I have fond memories of competing at and attending major meets at Hayward Field, especially the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic trials. But times have changed, the sport is very different, and other than the Prefontaine Classic I will not attend another meet there - I did not enjoy what was presented last year at the trials, e.g., cramped seating, limited access, corporate excess. I hope others continue to attend, because the venue is truly magical and steeped in tradition, but Hayward Field and the sport of t&f will never be what they were back in the 1970's and 80's.
P.S. Went to Pre's rock for the first time two weeks ago, and it affected me profoundly - brought back what a tragedy his accident was.
Well you said it yourself, times have changed. It won't look and feel like it did in the 70's and 80's. People change too, so maybe if you were placed now in the 70's and 80's that wouldn't feel the same. You are right, it will never be what it was back in the 70's and 80's. It will be different, but perhaps it can be pretty damn big again. Eugene definitely had some major magic last year, and I have never been to a meet that compared. And I've raced at Drake in front of nearly 60,000 or whatever there capacity was. Doesn't even come close.
When people talk about the large masses of people at Penn and Drake, all I think about is a great deal of people having private conversations and giving half of their attention to a race at hand. Probably because a majority of everyone there is only attending to see a specific event with a specific athlete that they are related to or know, or are the athletes or coaches themselves. They don't even know who 95% of the top athletes in most events are.
In Eugene you get people who take the meet programs and explain to their wives or kids or boyfriends what event is next and who to look for, and it's not always an Oregon athlete. If you sit in the west grand stands in Eugene you'll hear a couple all dressed in green and yellow eagerly anticipating a discuss thrower from a rival school or a professional athelete who competed for arkansas and is now sponsored by reebok.
These fans appreciate talent and competition and that is when it gets exciting.
State faires in the midwest attract 1,000,000's of fans yet few exhibitors are making a living on just that one event. Hayward is at that level. Simply a local novelty, a rural attraction, as nostalgic as it may be. Elite athletes have to make a living. For that magnitude of money, we need to have meets in the top TV markets.
Wonderful idea. Now go find those venues and see if you can put in fannies in the seats and see if you can get multi year sponsors. Hasn't happened, won't happen. Track and field has a toehold in Eugene and any of us who give a damn about the sport better appreciate that fact and support it. You Olin Cassell idealogues don't get it yet, and I guess you never will.