Eugene, OR: So this is the best stadium in the US?

Fine. There will always be an East Grandstand. I'm just saying replace the existing one. If you are a homer who knows the stadium inside and out and know exactly what seat you want and order months in advance, than I'm sure the East Grandstand is great. But its a cruel joke for some poor sap from out of town who wants to get into T&F but can care less about Hayward Field history and he's sitting behind a big pillar that blocks out the scoreboard or the finish line.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

ryan foreman wrote:

Hayward field holds its own just fine strictly as a T&F facility. However, one big improvement they should do is replace the East Grandstand.

Sacrilege!

This should never, ever be done. If you don't like the East Grandstand, don't sit there. But I and many others specifically request tickets there.

Blowing.Rock Master wrote:

ryan foreman wrote:

Hayward field holds its own just fine strictly as a T&F facility. However, one big improvement they should do is replace the East Grandstand.

Sacrilege!

This should never, ever be done. If you don't like the East Grandstand, don't sit there. But I and many others specifically request tickets there.

Thank you. Coming out for the trials?

A Duck wrote:

And the reason it remains large is that there are so many flipping events over so many days and hours that the stands are filled with friends and family.

Mt. Sac, on the other hand, people leave as soon as their races are over, family and friends, they are out of there.

Seen it many, many times. Sprinters races are over? The families all say "okay, let's get out of here," hit the highway and head back to town. By the time of the distance races, no one is hanging around except for old time track fans and distance fans.

You just showed an astounding degree of homerism as well as a lack of awareness.

Eugene is a joke, it IS a village track, in the middle of nowhere. Everybody knows why it's on the map.

I haven't competed seriously for a long time, but I used to really like Indy and Colorado Springs, as far as the US goes.

Man, that was a LONG time ago.

the clarifier wrote:

Coming out for the trials?

Afraid not this year. Should be there in 2016 - assuming the meet is at UO.

Hayward Field is venerable in the track and field world. If you want an 80,000 seat venue made of steel and glass, you will be sadly disappointed as there will be nowhere near the tradition, spirit and hospitality of Hayward Field. I have gone to several track meets there and have to say that nowhere in the USA is there a good comparison. If Mt Sac or anyone else wants the 2016 Trials, they need to step up, put their money and reputations on the line and make a bid to USATF. Sacramento had the Trials a couple times but lost money. Now the Sacramento Sports Authority is broke. Drake may want to bid. They are somewhat deserving and similar to Hayward Field. Other than questions about the facility itself, and possible adverse weather, I'd be fine with Drake because they seem to be good people who understand the sport. Penn can't hold it because the track doesn't meet any of the technical requirements for a Trials competiton. The other California locations are either inadequate or don't have monetary or fan support for a Trials type event.

Losing Money wrote:

But at a personal level I feel sorry for Vin Lanana and Mike Reilly got passed over for USATF CEO and COO and are now stuck in a crappy town.

Don't you just love the way people trash Eugene without posting their hometowns. Guess they are afraid of the pot shots they'd have to take, eh?

UO is fine for NCAA & college but sucks for USA & OT since the NCAA schools pay for the travel of athletes and coaches. USA & OT champs should be held in cities with a major airport and tourist facilities. Hell, UO can't even afford a parking structure for Autzen, Hayward, or Knight indoor venues.

Factt wrote:

A Duck wrote:

And the reason it remains large is that there are so many flipping events over so many days and hours that the stands are filled with friends and family.

Mt. Sac, on the other hand, people leave as soon as their races are over, family and friends, they are out of there.

Seen it many, many times. Sprinters races are over? The families all say "okay, let's get out of here," hit the highway and head back to town. By the time of the distance races, no one is hanging around except for old time track fans and distance fans.

You just showed an astounding degree of homerism as well as a lack of awareness.

My opinion has no degree of homerism.

I've competed AND attended track and field meetings all over the world and followed the sport for a long time.

Including attending the events mentioned. Most of the people in the stands are family members of competing athletes...and some retired athletes. And many old timers / insiders.

You are showing your ignorance about the sport. More and more journalists and researches are pointing out that our little sport is more a participant sport than a spectator sport...especially in the USA.

Eugene has it down sides. For sure. Rains a lot most of the year. I lived there for 4 years, and that SUCKS. Yes, there are some hippies and poor people...and well, the entire West Coast of the USA and the rest of the USA for that matter has homeless people and crappy sides of town etc. Our society has gone down hill in many ways over the last 40 years, as has our economic position in the global economy for a variety of factors etc.

Sacto, not a great place to hold a meet. NCAA's was dead there. Plenty of dead times / empty stands during the Trials in 2004 as well.

Eugene, because of it's heritage, and not a lot of other distractions in the spring...continues to be a nice small town that supports track and field knowledgeably...and knows how to cheer for all of the events. There is a continuity to it...they've been doing it for a long time.

Now, what they do not have, is a next generation of adults following the sport locally. Walk through the West Stands and note all the gray hair...and we are not talking 50 something, we are talking late 60's and onward, so time is coming fast when a good segment of the fans in Eugene are going to get too old to attend, or just plain die off.

So, the that thing where Eugene has stood out -- having local fans that will show up and watch the sport -- is not guaranteed to be the same in the future.

The problem is the state of the sport in this country, not Eugene.

European cities still bring out good amounts of fans for the DL...but in the last 30 years their meets have fallen in attendance.

Track, just isn't what it was in the past. In the 60's you could see around 100,000 people turn up for USA v. USSR in LA or Berkeley.

It just isn't that way any more. There are so many other distractions and times have changed.

It is a much smaller sport.

hayward field sucks. tear it down and build a new stadium next to autzen.

Golden League wrote:

The IAAF jewed down the specs from the former Golden League to the Diamond League cutting events, prize money, and allowing small towns with little stadiums in order to expand the IAAFs appeal to more countries.

Nothing to add. Just interested to know who long "jewed down" is going to stay up on Letsrun, "Where Your Racism Becomes Reality."

ryan foreman wrote:

You mean the big full stadiums that hold soccer matches? The ones that are a quarter full during Diamond League events? Those stadiums?

Not sure what the OP meant, but I was thinking of the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, which having hosted the Olympics in 1912 and more world records than any other stadium on earth, has a bit of history. (Certainly a bit more history than Hayward, which only holds meaning to people who still think the name Prefontaine holds meaning.)

Holds 14,000 and has been sold out for every GL/DL meeting I've ever seen there (quite a few).

other adjectives: gypped, welshed, chinsy, nippy ;-)

international wrote:

ryan foreman wrote:

You mean the big full stadiums that hold soccer matches? The ones that are a quarter full during Diamond League events? Those stadiums?

Not sure what the OP meant, but I was thinking of the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, which having hosted the Olympics in 1912 and more world records than any other stadium on earth, has a bit of history. (Certainly a bit more history than Hayward, which only holds meaning to people who still think the name Prefontaine holds meaning.)

Holds 14,000 and has been sold out for every GL/DL meeting I've ever seen there (quite a few).

I'm not sure the OP knew what they meant either.

max siegel's job is to merge the foundations meets and marathons of our sport with the usa outdoor championships & usoc team trials.

the marathons of NYC, BOS, and CHI and the relays of Penn, Kansas, Mt Sac, Stanford, Drake, and Texas are the nine foundations of our sport.

naturally at these nine locations no new developemnt is needed.

we need to hold out showcase championships at places outside of these nine historic citadels of usa t&f.

places that should be investigated for the next OT & USA champs are cities with major airports such as sacramento, indianapolis, buffalo, boise, seattle, san diego, portland, buffalo, sal lake city, etc.

unfortunately the south is too hot in june/july.

As I recall the Stockholm Super GP meet is on a tuesday night and was never a GL meet.

The only appropriate venues for the USOT or a Diamond League meet on the west coast are the Home Depot Center and the Coliseum.

I think the message was quite clear; glad it provoked discussion.

Once again, most of the GL/DL meets in Europe were/are held in big stadiums for like 50 000 people. Someone said they are primarily intended for soccer or something but thats perfectly fine as long as they get filled (and they mostly do, its not true that they are quarter empty as some poster said).

So when Golden league, renamed to Diamond, expanded outside of Europe I just expected it would be similar everywhere (I did not watch Shanghai so I have no idea how it was there).

And dont worry that I am somehow biased against the USA, not at all. As I said before I am saying the same about Oslo: it has its history, of course, but nowadays it should not belong to the DL. DL meets should meet high standards both in quality of the competition and quality of the stadium.

I seem not to understand how come USA cannot organize two big meets while much smaller countries in Europe can. France has two in Paris and Monaco, even such a tiny country as Switzerland hosts two big DL meets with big attendance. And compare the Swiss and US TF teams, one would say track should be much more popular in America than in Switzerland.