What it would take to make T&F a "real" pro sport

Look at the great success that the World Relays were this past year?

Teams + countries battling it out against each other.

It was a great starting point.

A lot more fans willing to pay to see it - and not b*tch about it not being available for free. So in other words, it ain't gonna happen.

instead of having every athlete have the same nike uniform, each training group should have their own singlets that also state where they are from. People love cheering for the home team or home town athlete.

Just a small thing, but the sport needs a lot of small changes.

pro imo means athletes can get a decent living out of their sport. Corporate Sponsors should be able to brand themselves more into the sport. Imagine an red and yellow McD trackteam, just like the footlocker team in the 90s.

I'm glad that NOP and OTC started to have their own uniforms and gears. The SMTC athletes (other than C.Lewis) were also known because of their uniforms. Especially in the distanceraces all Nike or Adidas fields are harmfull for interest (even fans).

Also athletes should race on a regular base and against each other. In some events (mostly field events) it's done, but how often do the top-sprinters race each other, hardly! Even in the Diamond League you don't see match ups. That's what makes track completely differint from the mentioned motocross. They have a series where the topguns meet every race.

Facilities should be good and according to the services offered by other prosports. That means no pro's attending high school meets and tracks without proper stands. One of the best examples is Webb's Mile AR, in stead of Oslo it was done on a small track in rather small (pro) meet (luckily with a camera in the stands).

The secondtier pro-meets should also interest more media outlets to record/broadcast their event or facilitate it self, so that unexpected good results or races can be shown to greater audience.

Get rid of the focus on times and point to winners. In paced marathons, but also sprints, I found myself often saying that a race was disappointing because of the time, rather than the development of the race. You don't see that in cycling. But a top dog marathoner can be a 'loser' if he wins a race without beating a CR or WR.

Teamcompetition certainly helps. Look at last weekends Euro-teams or WC/EC where athletes represent not only themselves but also their country. In the 60/70s you had a lot of teamcompetition, like the USA/USSR meets. Those scored meets are easy to understand. And people often feel more connection to someone who represents a country or club.

GAMBLING. full stop.

There would be more television viewers if the women wore smaller uniforms.

It is a "real" pro sport, it's just not one of the big five (NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL). It's different, not everyone understands it and it's minor. It's kind of like saying, "here's how to make the University of Minnesota an Ivy League school." T&F needs a little help financially globally and I certainly would not disagree if it became more popular, but T&F is not a team sport and shouldn't be compared to them. If you want a comparison, how about comparing it to tennis, golf, horse racing and swimming.

These are all tired and rehashed ideas.

Some things that it might take:

1. Stop splitting our fandom into event areas and learn to love the entire sport. Even fans of the sport factionalize.

2. Create a dynamic environment for post-collegiate athletes within USATF. An example (and I am sure not the only possible example): Set a qualifying standard for USA Nationals, but then open up 4 spots for regional qualification as well. Athletes would have a 2 weekend process (4 Regionals, let's say, to reduce travel time, and then 1 sub-nationals). 2 rounds at each weekend. top 4 at the Sub-National go to USA Nationals. This increases the opportunity to compete at USAs as well as opens the doors to compete meaningfully to hundreds of athletes.

3. Radical change at USATF and model the sport after successful individual sports like Golf. Make the competition #1, but have personality come to shine.

4. Get the great athletes to compete against each other in the "Majors"

FIFA and NASCAR two successful programs with grass roots to elite engagement.

Look at the adidas FIFA ads. When is the last time you saw adidas running put something together like this. Regardless if the ads featured Mutai, Kipsang, or any other adidas kenyan, there will be a narrative and the emphasis is on the running and the brand.

Screw USATF, with Nike calling the shots it's never going to happen from a governing body model. Heck IAAF is much more engaged at the grass roots level than USATF is.

not having a pregnant lady running 232 in the 800 lmao

Unfortunately the people promoting track and field are in Eugene, Oregon where they're very successful promoting the sport locally but it takes die hard track fans like us to love the sport out of state. Serving alcohol, betting like horse racing, and more races around the country will certainly draw fans in but getting people to love the sport on a pro level will be hard. If the big track clubs competed against each other at meets, that would be pretty cool to watch. Obviously clubs like the OTC and BTC would have to expand their squads in sprints and field events, this could also lead to the clubs on the east coast battling to sign great runners. You'd need owners like you do in every sport who spend millions of dollars on their teams.