The reason track isn't popular is simple: It's not relatable

You have the premise correct, there is a simple reason why track isn't popular.

The simple reason is that it is boring to watch.

missing it entirely wrote:

You have the premise correct, there is a simple reason why track isn't popular.

The simple reason is that it is boring to watch.

And golf isn’t? Sure, golf isn’t football in terms of viewership, but it still gets a ton of airtime on TV.

The biggest reason is a lack of celebrities. There are only a handful of track superstars people can name. Michael Johnson was the bomb dot com growing up. Honestly, the next person that comes to kind with that kind of mainstream popularity is Bolt. That’s a long stretch in between when Americans don’t have a celebrity to latch onto.

Also, track is not a regularly scheduled event with a team that people can get behind. There’s not 16 week schedule where you anticipate playing your rivals at home or qualifying for the playoffs.

It’s an incredible sport with incredible athletes, but there’s not enough ‘meat’ around it to get the average person hooked.

Soccer is boring to a lot of people but look at the MLS - it’s growing quickly. When people see the rowdy supporters groups, they want to be a part of it.

No one is playing drums and painting their face for a track meet, though.

There’s also too many events in track to keep the average joe interested.

Virtually every person has run. Maybe not in a race or a meet, but we ran. We raced each other down the street to see who could get to the Broome's mailbox first.

Track is one of the most popular sports in high school. Football and track have about the same number of participants

http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/PDF/2014-15_Participation_Survey_Results.pdf

Hundreds of thousands of runners line up for 5Ks and up. But few of them care about running whether track or on the road. I contrast that with golf and tennis players who play AND watch their sports.

TV coverage is not consistent. I know that I am going to see a NFL game on network tv or maybe ESPN every Sunday, Monday night and Thursday night. It is consistent. But I like track and keeping track (ha!) when meets occur is a challenge and that assumes it is on a channel that is not on a tier above my normal already expensive cable package. But then track is not going to be on network tv regularly until it is more popular.

Also I do not think tv coverage is great, but I am not sure great announcers are the answer either. College football has some horrible announcers (mainly because so many games are televised there is going to be a talent spread too thin) and yet is pretty popular. I always liked George Will's line about football combining two of the worst aspects of American culture: violence and committee meetings.

You make excellent points- I was talking to the owners of my local running store about educating hobby joggers.

We talked about having FloTrack and Runnerspace playing and videos of races past and present.

Of course, they never did it and now they've degenerated to the point where they cater to the people who buy all of those "alternative" shoes and think that just completing a longer "race" is somehow more of an accomplishment than a 3:55 mile or even a 15:30 5K.

It's marketing.

missing it entirely wrote:

You have the premise correct, there is a simple reason why track isn't popular.

The simple reason is that it is boring to watch.

This is the most ignorant post on the thread.

Golf? Tennis?

I've talked to people from Europe and Australia who think that football is very boring because they're always stopping and plays last about 5 seconds.

Baseball? You mean the sport where half the time you sit around and do nothing and the other half you stand around waiting for something to happen?

1) Need to be able to gamble. Plain and simple, see Horse Racing. Think that will lead to people throwing races? Yes it could happen, but somehow horse racing figures it out. Thank you supreme court for helping out here, could be the biggest improvement to the sport in decades.

2) Need to ensure starting at the HS and college level, it is very easy to know results and team scores. With today's technology it boggles my mind whether i see paper results posted on a wall rather than live results online for people to follow (and telling people at the meet to find website). Who won tonight's football game Johnny? I don't know but the running back ran really fast.

3) Yes winning matters, see 2016 election. Obsessing about times/distances (world records) has been the down fall of the sport. While lots of people participate in the sport, few "race" they train and join the running community. They can't relate to times, but they can relate to trying to win (their age category or beating their boss at charity fundraiser). The sport needs to stop talking about records, and more about winning. And if winning the olympics is only every 4 years, that's a tough product to market.

I think it's a little simpler. Running isn't popular in the US because there aren't any big time US runners. Rupp is a marketers worst nightmare and let's face it, he's not Tier 1, at least not in the same way Lance Armstrong was in the early 2000s.

There is no "grassroots" participation. I walk past local club soccer matches all the time, out of shape yahoos facing off, very into their sport but not even close to athletic, just your average schmucks. It's no coincidence that high school soccer is not a big deal, that's why they still want to play.

Ummm- have you ever been to a 1/2 marathon? Or just about any other road race with the letsrun dubbed Hobby Joggers dominating the numbers?

Seriously? No grassroots support?

This again? Why do you people care so much about track being popular?

Track is boring to watch. I'm a former college track athlete, and I never watch meets in person or on TV because IT'S BORING!

Track and distance running are boring to watch, but they're great participant sports. So go for a good run, train for a race, and forget this silly notion about making it popular. The sport isn't about watching, it's about doing.

Idisagree wrote:

I disagree. Running is arguably the most relatable sport. It's also, perhaps, the most personal sport and everyone participating has their own motivators, their own unique needs that are fulfilled when they hit the streets.

Running as an act doesn't have heroes because it doesn't need them. As a sport, first it needs a villain. Then, it needs an underdog with a story, one that marketers and advertisers can get behind.

Best answer.

You could argue we do have a villain, Salazar, but as soon as the conversation moves to the technicalities of TUEs etc then the general public's eyes will glaze over.

Yuki and Desiree winning Boston were both great underdog stories but they only happen in freak conditions. It could be another 10 years until we get a similar upset.

The only time T&F really gets into the mainstream is when there is a direct rivalry such as Coe and Ovett in the 1980's. The domination of Bolt, Gebreselassie, Bekele and now Kipchoge doesn't do much for our sport as the general public just see the guy who was expected to win winning again.

The fact that there are so many high school kids competing in track only means there are even more parents in the stands at 10 - 12 hour track meets with 20 heats of whatever, thinking track is stupid. They get to watch officials call marginal false starts in the JV 200 where three kids are in the heat and wonder if they will ever get out of there.

Track needs to stop doing what it has been doing and.....CHANGE! And I love and coach hs track.

Track meets should not take over 3 hours. Stop having every event in every meet. Tell starters to quit being so official and let the kids run. There is no need to stand up the JV 1600 when someones toe touches the line.

Turn the meets into Carnivals...Ask any parent or kid what their favorite meet of the season is? It is ALWAYS a distance carnival where each race starts right after the previous one and the DJ is playing loud music....AND the kids run fast!

At the pro level, athletes need to get themselves out in communities so that people get to know them. Instagram followers are probably young track athletes themselves...not the ones who will sponsor and put money into buying seats. When there is a meet or road race, create a VIP experience where people with money get behind the scenes and feel more part of the action..maybe get to meet some athletes and shake hands.

The list could go on and on...

ESPN once promoted nhl and the sport was popular. Now hat espn does not have the tv contract any longer, nhl took a hit

This past week espn gave UFC a $1.5B contract. Wit and see: espn and paren company abc will now pump this UFC league

Track and field? Nobody cares

Disagree on all accounts.

The fact that there are so many participants in high school track is a good thing. Yes it means there are endless heats and the meets take forever, but that means kids are PARTICIPATING! So what if it's boring to watch? It's not about the watchers. Eliminating events/heats means eliminating participants.

As far as road races offering the chance to feel a part of the action, they already have that. It's called entering the race and actually RUNNING it. Can't be more a part of the action than that.

Track is for doers, not watchers. And that's exactly as it should be. There are thousands of entertainment options available... we don't need another one. We do need more opportunities for people to get off their couches and be physically active.

Doing > watching.

missing it entirely wrote:

You have the premise correct, there is a simple reason why track isn't popular.

The simple reason is that it is boring to watch.

This.

1. The announcers are awful. They focus on the favorite or the guy in the lead. They ignore the race for 2nd and 3rd... often never even showing their finish or mentioning their names.

2. Track is boring and S.L.O.W. A track meet takes a whole day.

3. Except for the sprints, races are even boring after they start. Nothing to really get excited about until the last lap.

4. The definitive moments in the action might be minutes apart. Baseball moves glacially slow, but there's a pitch about once a minute. In football, there's a play every 45 seconds. Even in curling, something happens every minute. It's not uncommon for 5 minutes to pass in a track meet without a race.

I race the 400/800 and I don't even watch track meets. I might tape a meet and fast forward to the race I want to watch, but I never watch a meet in television, with the exception of the Olympics.

Watching track events is like watching NASCAR, without the crashes, near misses or noise

Are we really surprised it isn't more popular?

"Oh wow that person is running fast"

*1 minute later*

"Yup they are still running fast, how long is this again? 2 hours! Screw that"

Wow...This post is about why track is not popular...IF track were more popular, those who participate for a living would make a lot more money....so those participating at a higher level would benefit.

The fact you disagree on all levels only suggests you really don't understand the issue here. Large participation in high school while great for those kids, is not translating to popularity for the sport beyond. We want the sport to be more popular beyond the high school level.

And "all level," are you saying that the officials should stand up the JV 1600 when a toe is on the line? Are you saying it's a good thing meets take 10-12 hours? Are you actually standing out there the entire time? My guess is not.

The thread starts like this, and you take it seriously?

"People like sports that are relatable – meaning they can wake up one random morning and go do it. Every other sport, such as cricket and table tennis, can easily be played just by waking up and doing it. You can't wake up and do any track event. "

are you all idiots? wrote:

The thread starts like this, and you take it seriously?

"People like sports that are relatable – meaning they can wake up one random morning and go do it. Every other sport, such as cricket and table tennis, can easily be played just by waking up and doing it. You can't wake up and do any track event. "

What? It isn't like you can just walk outside your door and start running.

Pole vault, maybe...

This has already been said several times, but track has to be one of the more relatable sports out there.

Almost everyone has ran at some level at some point.

A ton of people have actually competed in track and field in high school.

(also admit that this is likely a troll but worth discussion anyways)

~

I'm not sure exactly what track needs, but I do believe it has the potential to be a great spectator sport. We recently had a great HS Boys and Girls invitational mile (Mason Invitational near Cincinnati, OH: 6 girls went under 5:00 for the mile, Dustin Horter went 4:04) and it was pretty incredible. A ton of people who had never been to a track meet before in their life (largely high school kids) were in attendance. The entire place was going nuts (mostly for Horter's sub-4 attempt).

Here's 4 things I think might make track a better spectator sport:

1.) More big meets in more big market areas. Not just in the usual East Coast and West Coast spots. I'm thinking Chicago, Nashville, Las Vegas, etc.

2.) A running/jogging resurgence like the Bowerman days.

3.) Headlines. Probably this more than anything. Why do I want to watch? Why do I care about Centro vs. Robby Andrews? Or Gatlin vs. Coleman? Chilemo vs. Ches? Martinez vs. Simpson? Quigly vs. Freirchs vs. Coburn? etc. Or, NOP vs. OTC?

We need rivalries and more reasons to watch. We need big titles on the line (and maybe some big purses for the winners). Maybe we need to change the game with more team meets (idk).

4.) Beer.

Idisagree wrote:

I disagree. Running is arguably the most relatable sport. It's also, perhaps, the most personal sport and everyone participating has their own motivators, their own unique needs that are fulfilled when they hit the streets.

Running as an act doesn't have heroes because it doesn't need them. As a sport, first it needs a villain. Then, it needs an underdog with a story, one that marketers and advertisers can get behind.

Running is a sport that's fun to do but not fun to watch (for the vast majority of people). Football is a sport that's not so much fun to do but is fun to watch.

spectator sports vs. participation sports

tennis and golf are both