Hotels are definitely that expensive. Some of the streets you would have to walk on to get to Hayward from the downtown area have narrow sidewalks, close to cars going fast. There are definitely a lot of homeless around, I don’t know about camps, though.
With all the homeless around why not pitch a tent right in front of Hayward field?
Sitting through a track meet isn't the greatest experience. It's not like a football or baseball game where it's just one team against another. It's dozens and dozens of athletes in events you don't care about and you have to wait virtually all day for the events you do want to see. Those events might take minutes or even just seconds.
Hotels are definitely that expensive. Some of the streets you would have to walk on to get to Hayward from the downtown area have narrow sidewalks, close to cars going fast. There are definitely a lot of homeless around, I don’t know about camps, though.
With all the homeless around why not pitch a tent right in front of Hayward field?
Exactly. What could or would they do? Homeless rights and all that ...
Was pretty depressing when they announced the new stadium and all the negativity about it that was predicted to be true. Very disappointing, but I’m thankful to have seen on of the last meet in historic Hayward. Rip track town usa
I would absolutely go to watch the US Championships; however, there are 3 problems:
1. I live on the East coast, and the plane flight to Portland was over $800 and the rental car was $100+ per day.
2. Tickets are $68 for a nose-bleed seat and about $300 for a good seat along the home stretch.
3. Any kind of decent hotel is over $300 per night.
All in, to attend all 4 sessions, that's $3,600 just for me. It's way too cost prohibitive for something I can watch on TV.
For what it's worth, the World Championships are even worse, over $100 for nose-bleed tickets for a morning session. Absolutely ridiculous. It's track and field, not an Alabama-Auburn football game. Also, they are not even offering an all-session pass for the world championships. If you're going, wouldn't you want to go to every session?
Nike went cheap and uses free college students and high school coaches to staff Track Town USA, Runner Space, Citius Magazine, Portland Track, Oregon Live, Dyestat, Oregon Track Club, etc.
If this current meet was being held in LA, how many fans would be there tonight?
30,000?
LOL, are you joshing?? NY just held it's Grand Prix meet Sunday before last & there were 1700 paying spectators. A meet with Noah, Sha'Carrie, Devon Allen AND free parking. New York frigg'in City!
LA would have had about 3,000-5,000 on a Thursday afternoon/evening. Too much traffic and the air quality is crap at Mt. SAC. Traffic and a lack of parking precludes a big crowd at UCLA. Where is another track in LA that meets USATF/WA standards that features ease of access and parking?
Hotels are always expensive on big meet weekends. The hoteliers are not dumb and they certainly are not a charity in business to house track fans at rock bottom prices.
Homeless people downtown and in the parks? Sadly, yes. But it sure as hell is not "Thunderdome". Of course, if you are a candy azzed upper middle class suburbanite that lives in a gated community, I can see how it might scare you to see poor or dirty people that are not paid for mowing your lawn or caring for your children. Narrow sidewalks?! Fast moving urban traffic?! Yikes! It's like Eugene is an actual city. It has problems but it isn't Mogadishu or Kharkiv as some would have you believe.
If this were in LA, the LRC troll collective would complain about traffic and costly lodging. In Budapest, they will get weirded out by foreign languages and subway stations without prominent signage in English. If they could have traveled to Tokyo, it would be b**ching about expensive everything, too many Asian people crowded on trains, and not enough 'Murican food. I'm beginning to think that the sport's core fan base is basically the two old guys from The Muppet Show.
I would absolutely go to watch the US Championships; however, there are 3 problems:
1. I live on the East coast, and the plane flight to Portland was over $800 and the rental car was $100+ per day.
2. Tickets are $68 for a nose-bleed seat and about $300 for a good seat along the home stretch.
3. Any kind of decent hotel is over $300 per night.
All in, to attend all 4 sessions, that's $3,600 just for me. It's way too cost prohibitive for something I can watch on TV.
For what it's worth, the World Championships are even worse, over $100 for nose-bleed tickets for a morning session. Absolutely ridiculous. It's track and field, not an Alabama-Auburn football game. Also, they are not even offering an all-session pass for the world championships. If you're going, wouldn't you want to go to every session?
$300 for a good seat?? FAKE NEWS. I'm 4 rows back right smack dab on the finish line for $250 for all 4 days. Tix are $35 for a great seat along the homestretch & still available right now. How about Section 125, 5 rows back from trackside, $35! Why not just get General Admission tix at $20 each and sit in the very front row on the backstretch if you need to save the $15? Rental car? Sup with that? You here to watch T & F or go sightseeing? Screw the 'decent' hotel @ $300, book an AirBnB early & pay 1/3 that. I'm on Villard, a block from the Duck & 2 blocks from Hayward. Not much anyone can do about airline tix these days, but I fly into Eugene and avoid the $50 shuttle ride from Portland.
LA would have had about 3,000-5,000 on a Thursday afternoon/evening. Too much traffic and the air quality is crap at Mt. SAC. Traffic and a lack of parking precludes a big crowd at UCLA. Where is another track in LA that meets USATF/WA standards that features ease of access and parking?
Hotels are always expensive on big meet weekends. The hoteliers are not dumb and they certainly are not a charity in business to house track fans at rock bottom prices.
Homeless people downtown and in the parks? Sadly, yes. But it sure as hell is not "Thunderdome". Of course, if you are a candy azzed upper middle class suburbanite that lives in a gated community, I can see how it might scare you to see poor or dirty people that are not paid for mowing your lawn or caring for your children. Narrow sidewalks?! Fast moving urban traffic?! Yikes! It's like Eugene is an actual city. It has problems but it isn't Mogadishu or Kharkiv as some would have you believe.
If this were in LA, the LRC troll collective would complain about traffic and costly lodging. In Budapest, they will get weirded out by foreign languages and subway stations without prominent signage in English. If they could have traveled to Tokyo, it would be b**ching about expensive everything, too many Asian people crowded on trains, and not enough 'Murican food. I'm beginning to think that the sport's core fan base is basically the two old guys from The Muppet Show.
Events like this are put out for bids. What other places bid for it? What was going to be the cost of hosting it there? Having worked enough, a place could be appealing and then you run into the costs and it gets crazy. For instance, NYC...union labor costs and BS stuff drives up the cost. Want an extension cord? You cannot plug one in and run it, gotta have an electrician come do it. Oh and you will get charged for that and it will take a day to get it done. There is a lot that goes into an event.
From one perspective Eugene makes perfect sense this year since it is the location for Worlds. Getting used to the facility is a good thing.
People talk about putting it in NYC. That is great for folks close by and maybe you could fill the stands with just them in which case that goal is met. But the travel cost then shifts. (Travel costs are going to be an issue for someone).
Eugene and the area has passionate track fans I am sure, but sort of like what people say about hockey: every city as 20,000 rabid hockey fans, but that is (was) the only people who would come out. (Hockey has gotten a lot more popular so less of an issue now). No doubt a lot of people are choosing what events to go to. Maybe a lot of folks who would come in are waiting until Worlds.
I would absolutely go to watch the US Championships; however, there are 3 problems:
1. I live on the East coast, and the plane flight to Portland was over $800 and the rental car was $100+ per day.
2. Tickets are $68 for a nose-bleed seat and about $300 for a good seat along the home stretch.
3. Any kind of decent hotel is over $300 per night.
All in, to attend all 4 sessions, that's $3,600 just for me. It's way too cost prohibitive for something I can watch on TV.
For what it's worth, the World Championships are even worse, over $100 for nose-bleed tickets for a morning session. Absolutely ridiculous. It's track and field, not an Alabama-Auburn football game. Also, they are not even offering an all-session pass for the world championships. If you're going, wouldn't you want to go to every session?
I'm in exactly the same predicament. Went to see the olympic trials in 2016 and had an amazing time. Might go back for 2024 olympic trials, but can't afford to also go to worlds.
I would absolutely go to watch the US Championships; however, there are 3 problems:
1. I live on the East coast, and the plane flight to Portland was over $800 and the rental car was $100+ per day.
2. Tickets are $68 for a nose-bleed seat and about $300 for a good seat along the home stretch.
3. Any kind of decent hotel is over $300 per night.
All in, to attend all 4 sessions, that's $3,600 just for me. It's way too cost prohibitive for something I can watch on TV.
For what it's worth, the World Championships are even worse, over $100 for nose-bleed tickets for a morning session. Absolutely ridiculous. It's track and field, not an Alabama-Auburn football game. Also, they are not even offering an all-session pass for the world championships. If you're going, wouldn't you want to go to every session?
$300 for a good seat?? FAKE NEWS. I'm 4 rows back right smack dab on the finish line for $250 for all 4 days. Tix are $35 for a great seat along the homestretch & still available right now. How about Section 125, 5 rows back from trackside, $35! Why not just get General Admission tix at $20 each and sit in the very front row on the backstretch if you need to save the $15? Rental car? Sup with that? You here to watch T & F or go sightseeing? Screw the 'decent' hotel @ $300, book an AirBnB early & pay 1/3 that. I'm on Villard, a block from the Duck & 2 blocks from Hayward. Not much anyone can do about airline tix these days, but I fly into Eugene and avoid the $50 shuttle ride from Portland.
Not sure what ticket site I was checking, but you are correct. Still, it's a very expensive trip to get to Eugene. I wanted to go to the Worlds, but definitely too expensive.
Events like this are put out for bids. What other places bid for it? What was going to be the cost of hosting it there? Having worked enough, a place could be appealing and then you run into the costs and it gets crazy. For instance, NYC...union labor costs and BS stuff drives up the cost. Want an extension cord? You cannot plug one in and run it, gotta have an electrician come do it. Oh and you will get charged for that and it will take a day to get it done. There is a lot that goes into an event.
From one perspective Eugene makes perfect sense this year since it is the location for Worlds. Getting used to the facility is a good thing.
People talk about putting it in NYC. That is great for folks close by and maybe you could fill the stands with just them in which case that goal is met. But the travel cost then shifts. (Travel costs are going to be an issue for someone).
Eugene and the area has passionate track fans I am sure, but sort of like what people say about hockey: every city as 20,000 rabid hockey fans, but that is (was) the only people who would come out. (Hockey has gotten a lot more popular so less of an issue now). No doubt a lot of people are choosing what events to go to. Maybe a lot of folks who would come in are waiting until Worlds.
You are correct. NYC is a bad place to hold it. On top of all this, it's a nightmare getting to Icahn Stadium - only the most committed fans would even consider going.
I was just in Eugene last weekend for NON. Unfortunately NON was very poorly attended, I can't imagine more than a few hundred people in the stands at any given time, and it was almost entirely athletes, parents and coaches, but what can you expect when tickets are $26/day? Arcadia for example was much better, and there generally seemed like a lot more track fans showed up. Oregon's new stadium seems like a pet project for a few people at Nike and the University, it's hard to see it ever being filled to even 50% capacity outside of the world championships, that seems like such a waste.
Sitting through a track meet isn't the greatest experience. It's not like a football or baseball game where it's just one team against another. It's dozens and dozens of athletes in events you don't care about and you have to wait virtually all day for the events you do want to see. Those events might take minutes or even just seconds.
Yep, and there's no connection between all the events. In football, what happens on first down impacts what takes place on second down. What occurred in the first quarter impacts what occurs in the 4th quarter. In track, the 100 meters has no impact on the hammer throw, which has no impact on the 1,500 meters. It's just a bunch of random, disconnected events. The meets go on for hours and hours and hours and there's to score to keep track of, no story line to follow throughout.
I hope people are just all in on worlds, and the stadium would be full for that. If not, it'll be a very very bad look
it just seems like such an unrealistic trip if you're not local
the cheapest hotel room for July 22-25 costs an even $2000
cheapest roundtrip flights from NYC are ~$1200
how is the family of someone who qualifies this weekend supposed to make a trip to see them at worlds?
Same way they will be able to afford it next year in Budapest. Or in Doha, London, etc.
The biggest issue by far in Eugene is lack of quality accommodations in the form of large 4+ star hotels and ground transportation. That is a big deterrent for international visitors that have money to spend and want the comfort and convenience of a large city.