Historic Hayward Field may soon be a thing of the past - Demolition of East Grandstands may have already begun

super bad unknown wrote:

slowgo wrote:

So they are going to take the entire grandstand down one board at a time and load them into a moving truck?

I don't think this is how "demolitions" are carried out.

My first thought when I saw this was that they are going to auction off the benches at some point.

Colleges do this all the time. Probably sell little pieces for few hundred each and big sections for a couple grand. Easy fundraiser.

Please, you can't have it both ways. If you want to host the World Championships, the stadium seating requirement is 30,000 seats. If the permanent seating is 12,000 and you're worried about how that will look for home meets, then you shouldn't be bidding for the WC and all its requirements in the first place. The problem with Hayward is that it has BOTH a world class professional identity and a college identity. No other stadium on the Diamond League circuit has this kind of schizophrenic personality. Eugene is going to have to pick one side of its personality over the other. If you want to host World Championships, then don't complain about the end of wood bleachers and cozy campus size. If you want to keep the bleachers and small seating capacity, forget about bidding for the World Championships.

How much is letsrun.com contributing ?

this is true.

if one wants a seat at the table he must make a donation.

Mr. Knight made a donation and thus has a seat at the table.

Others are whistling Dixie.

Phil is no dummy. He has donated numerous buildings to the school and is not about to cede his influence by committing to a huge donation up front, and then having various committees and individuals later change what he committed to. Therefore the non-transparent process.

just the 2 of us wrote:

gdeegz wrote:

This is a sad day for the sport of track and field.

it is either tear down the stadium and build a new one or tell the iaaf to move the worlds out of the usa. No other place in the usa has a stadium that can handle worlds and nobody else is planning to build one. So what do you want? An old stadium that eventually will have to be replaced or the worlds and a new showcase stadium?

People complained when they tore down the house that ruth built (yanks stadium) and the fans got over it as soon as they saw the new place (well even before)

Its a done deal move on already

That is not true. The new stadium is awful and a much worse place to watch a game, unless you're one of the fortunate few to sit inside the moat.

I think the whining time is over. It's going to happen and not much we can do about it. If we were all shareholders we could have a say but we are not. So it's useless to continue to complain about it!!!! Move on! Change is inevitble!

Is Knight a democrat?

Tearing down the East Grandstand first and taking away the argument that it could be kept is like something out of Richard Daley's playbook.

This is BS. So there is no way to build to a medium size stadium that can be expanded for the rare large size meet? Eye roll. I don’t think 12,000 is too big. 12,000 in a stadium that has 18,000 seats covered by some kind of tarp is asinine. The East stand could remain and a more permanent seating added on the west side and around the curves. Then expanded with temporary stands for worlds. Aren’t the trials close to 23k as is? Even IF the East stands need removed the new design is gross. Has anyone seen the other building on campus Phil designed? It’s the laughing stock of campus. This will be more of the same.

Les wrote:

Please, you can't have it both ways. If you want to host the World Championships, the stadium seating requirement is 30,000 seats. If the permanent seating is 12,000 and you're worried about how that will look for home meets, then you shouldn't be bidding for the WC and all its requirements in the first place. The problem with Hayward is that it has BOTH a world class professional identity and a college identity. No other stadium on the Diamond League circuit has this kind of schizophrenic personality. Eugene is going to have to pick one side of its personality over the other. If you want to host World Championships, then don't complain about the end of wood bleachers and cozy campus size. If you want to keep the bleachers and small seating capacity, forget about bidding for the World Championships.

i don't understand why the IAAF has baby worlds in small stadiums every once in awhile when most of the worlds are held in major cities.

epicTCK wrote:

rip

tears and beers

tell me why wrote:

i don't understand why the IAAF has baby worlds in small stadiums every once in awhile when most of the worlds are held in major cities.

Still got splinters in my ass from Rio Oly Trials.

LetsRun.com wrote:

What will the 12,000 version look like and won't 12,000 permanent seats be too many?

We were told today the U of O gave out 4,000 free tickets to NCAAs (2,000 to kids and 2,000 to their parents) as ticket sales were so anemic.

Ticket sales wouldn't be so anemic if they moved it around the country. If you take it to a new university then locals show up to watch, and people get tired of travelling to the same location for every meet. If you're into track why are you going to want to pay good money go back to Hayward for the 10th time in 4 years?

Exactly my situation. Drifted from track for a long, long time, but I've been back following closely for more than a decade, in large part thanks to Letsrun.com. I had plenty of chances to get out there but never managed it, always assuming it was something I'd get to one day. I may one day see a meet at Hayward Field, but it won't be the same.

Bucket List Fail wrote:

My only concerns are selfish...and probably impractical. (A) I hate to see an historical venue like Hayward Field essentially go by the wayside, even in the name of progress and profit. It just seems disrespectful, in a way. (B) I now have to officially regret never having seen a meet there; I will never have the chance again.

If any of you are procrastinators like me, think about Point B the next time you're tempted to postpone doing something you really want to do.

We have received an emailed statement from the East Grandstand Supporters (EGS):

Additionally, the email stated, "The EGS have explored and are still exploring, with their attorneys, other options for legal action. "

Here are some photos of the demolition from the local media.

Anyone going to be arrested for this violation?

Btw, not familiar with the area, but are there no alternative sites for a new stadium?

Maybe a new stadium is required to keep pace in the wide, wide, world of sports but does it have to look like an anonymous space bubble that could be in Doha, the outskirts of Beijing or Plasticville USA?

The analogy that I use is that Hayward Field was a classic car, all shiny and polished up, with classic lines that you can sit in on a beautiful day and think how great it is. You just kind of ignore that you can't get it over 45 miles per hour and even then you'll probably drop the transmission on the pavement. The new Hayward Field will be more like Formula One.

It comes down to the future of the sport in America. Track & field is a niche sport. Those of us who love it really love it. The rest of the public pays no attention until its the Olympics and might be able to name one track & field athlete, probably Usain Bolt. Do we want to grow this sport into a major sport? Hockey is slowly doing that. NASCAR is fading. If we want to become a major sport, we need venues that offer great spectator experiences. Yeah, the performances at Hayward can be amazing, but it's wood plank seating, totally inadequate restrooms, maybe a concessions stand is open, no parking and limited sightlines in the east grandstand. Beyond simply not ADA compliant. I've seen a ton of older fans struggling to come down from upper rows of the west grandstands without slipping and falling all of the way to the track. Yeah, it's neat to be in the front row and high five the winner on their victory lap. Row M? Well, at least you're under cover. People love old stadiums where they had great memories, the Polo Grounds, Ebbetts Field, the old Yankee Stadium, Candlestick Park. Oh, wait. Nobody like the Stick. All of those venues were for a smaller sport than they are today. We still have to give spectators a better fan experience.

Unsaid in all of this discussion is that the athlete experience at Hayward is nowhere near what it could be. There are no locker rooms. The weight room is below 1980's standards. There is no place for athletes to run inside during the winter months. Only pole vault can train under cover. Appealing to the tradition of Eugene/U of O/Hayward Field doesn't cut cheese with teenagers who think the long term is something that will happen before the end of this season. It's tough to recruit college athletes with poor facilities, especially when you want them to come to a cool to cold climate. This is U of O putting down a marker for recruiting track & field athletes. No one else will have facilities like this.

If you don't think the sport should grow from its niche status, then it's a negative cash flow sport. Somebody has to fund the deficits. And, right now, the funding is coming from Nike and Phil Knight. Billionaires tend to get their way because its their money.

Half of the issue (I think) is that no one wants a character lacking stadium in Eugene. It doesn't fit Eugene/UO at all. If we want a shiny building we can go visit London or the Beijing. It will look very out of place.

In addition the functionality of the new stadium is awful. There is no coverage from the sun and rain and it will swirl wind.

Yes, I agree, the steps in the stadium in the rain are pretty awful. Bathrooms in the west grandstand are awful (east has a copious amounts of stalls in the male bathroom). An actual locker room for the athletes would be very nice.

UO has ZERO issue recruiting. There is NO need to run inside during the winter. Go put in your miles in the rain. The sprinters go over the river to the Cassanova/Mariota training area that has a very large turf field and long straights of track surface laid down. West grand stands have a short track to practice starts.

Zero parking is always an issue in Eugene. Matt Knight Arena has the same problem. Only football/baseball have the lots around Autzen.

My .02 are that, yes, renovation is needed. But a shiny stadium is not what should be in Eugene. Personally I am a big fan of Tinker Hatfield's design, and the original idea of renovate the East grand stands (although the sight lines do suck, perhaps knock down and rebuild a replica with better engineered support?) and knock down the west. Too late though.