What if we took Hayward Field and moved it to Portland?

Lots of parking near Hayward. There is a garage at Matthew Knight Arena (3 blocks) and at Mill Race (a ten minute walk down Agate with all day rates under $10). I often park in the adjacent neighborhoods for free - just mind the time limits. I'm kind of amazed that "passionate" track fans are frightened by a little walking or expect that a facility used about six times per year should be surrounded by 10,000 parking spaces like a 1980s shopping mall.

More hotels than ever in Eugene/Springfield plus Air BnB rentals. Obviously, pricing will spike during major events (Good luck finding a hotel room for under $500/night in Los Angeles during the 2028 Games despite having loads of inventory!)

This is LRC so I fully expect it to be 90% whining and complaining from people who weren't going to travel for a track meet under any circumstances. Based on the comments, many have never been to Eugene and I suspect that a lot of you are obese wheezing seniors, youngsters with no money, or beaten down middle class men that wanted to go but your family voted to spend the vacation budget on Disney...again.

Haha. I guess if we're talking moving tracktown to $hithole cities Chicago is a slight step up on Portland. Portland is a dystopian hellhole, easily in the running for worst city in America, with crackheads shooting up on every corner and an obnoxious population that alienates everyone to the right of moderate left. Chicago has all the same qualities with less open drugs with the added fun of gun shots starting literally anywhere for any reason.

We might as well admit Track and Field is a failing sport with a corrupt governing body and locate Track town in a city that reflects that same mix of failure and corruption.

I was going to say Chicago. You could show up without a room booked and find one the say you arrive within a 30 minute Uber ride to the city.

I hope you're a troll. If not, you're just an idiot who has never been to Chicago.

abc7chicago.com

Chicago metropolitan area population decline being addressed through revitalization projects

@abc7chicago

People seem to be talking about it all the time: Why are so many people leaving the Chicago area?

Open link

The 68K people who left in the prior year, and probably around the same that left last year agree. But don't worry Chicago, you're doing great. I'm sure you're revitalization projects will solve the problem.

It's useless talking to someone as clueless as you but you can be outside the city limits and still be 15-20 minutes from Chicago.

Plus, it's a big city. Go to where the Field Museum is- it's beautiful and safe. It's on the lake shore and there are people running, biking, doing all activities there.

In addition- I live in a small city surrounded by suburbs in Upstate NY- the city is worried about declining population. They're all moving 10-20 minutes away to the surrounding towns.

Chicago is still the number 1 choice for reasons stated above.

The problem isn't that there aren't other good places to hold meets, the problem is those places aren't doing the work or want to host those meets. Trying to project events on locations that don't want to or are incapable of setting up a organizing committee to do so makes no sense. These "what if" scenarios are just fantasy until the community in that location does the work and creates the meet hosting infrastructure to do so.

The question should be not why aren't the meets at X location(s), but rather why doesn't X location get off their ass and do the work that Eugene does every year?

Here's a proposal:

Get a benefactor to build a WA certified 9 lane track and a warm-up facility adjacent to the Barry Recreational Facility in Rosemont, IL. On Google maps, there is a huge empty lot at Barry and Lunt directly across from Allstate Arena (and it's massive parking lots). Surround it with temporary bleacher seating for 15-25K fans. For the first major events, say a USATF or NCAA championships, large tents could be used for call rooms and such. If those events sell out, then we now have a site on which to build a permanent national track stadium. If attendance is similar to Eugene, then the local parks and school districts get a nice oval to compete on.

Literally minutes from O'Hare (you will see and hear planes constantly) with affordable flights from nearly everywhere on Planet Earth

35 minutes from downtown Chicago nightlife and luxury hotels

Thousands of affordable hotel rooms within 15 minutes

Restaurants and shopping close at hand

Easy access to public transit

We know that Austin is too frickin' hot. New York City fails to pack Randall's Island. Atlanta is just like Austin. L.A. will turn out for the Olympics but not for lesser meets. So it's put up or shut up time for the Midwest!

Lol. Yes “Red State Rob” that’s exactlyyyyyyy what Portland is like. Try changing the channel every now and then.

Phil Knight grew up in SE Portland and currently lives in Hillsboro. He did not grow up in Eugene and does not live in Eugene.

I was going to say, Red State Rob has never left his red state and comes across like an absolute lunatic. Portland is generally an amazing city. They should figure out how to build a track stadium within the footprint and in conjunction with the Portland Timbers soccer franchise. That would be epic.

PS: RS Bob, if you ever come to Portland or any other big city, they won't let you fly with firearms so you'll have to leave your security blanket at home.

Homeless junkies are everywhere in portland and chicago is a crime ridden hellhole.

I've been in Portland, unfortunately, multiple times in the past two years. It is a once beautiful city that has become a hellhole. There are homeless everywhere, just driving through on the 5 you can see the tent cities. Downtown has been absolutely taken over by homeless and yes you 100% see homeless doing hard drugs in public. I always wonder if the lefties on this board just live in very specific areas where they don't get exposed to the effects of their bad policies or if they are just liars. I'll go with liars on this because there is no way any one can argue Portland has not fallen apart. Or I could just be a lunatic. What to believe, my lying eyes or some progressive activists on letsrun.

For the LA '84 Olympics, they did not build a track stadium. It was the existing LA Coliseum as were many other '84 venues. It is part of the reason the Olympics in LA were the first to turn a profit (few have since). They added a track by removing some of the lower seating. Soon after the Olympics, they tore out the track to put back football seating. That stadium still exists and may be used in '28 for T&F (temporary track again).

Mt. SAC has a world class facility recently redone. It was supposed to hose the 2020 OTs but USATF (subsidiary of Nike) pulled it to Eugene. It is close to several airports, many hotels, though lacks public transportation. So. Cal. Weather is consistently better than most US cities. Summer heat is an issue, though less than many other possibilities due to lower humidity and rare >100 days. Summer evenings are typically cooler than many other US locations.

There may be other T&F stadiums, but as mentioned these locations are not bidding for NCAA or other big T&F meets. Eugene is. Mt SAC did, got accepted and was later removed. Maybe that was a lesson to other potential bidders.

I agree it was an interesting choice. I think Phil was nostalgic for the heyday of Hayward and wanted to keep that mystique alive. Very short sighted from him.

I have always wanted someone to take a shot at overtaking Oregon as the running mecca in the US. Unfortunately its only been smaller cities that have invested. I would like to see a Boston (rebuilt White Stadium) or Philly (upgraded Franklin Field) take a swing, but without a billion dollar investment from one of the richest people on the planet, its not happening. Best chance now is a city on the rise: Austin is in the lead, but Raleigh would be my choice.

Don’t tell anyone but Eugene is a great destination city:

- vineyards & wine tasting

- short drive to World Class beaches

- hiking, trail running, mtn biking & river rafting

- terrific natural food restaurants …

- with a storied T&F history & now the finest T&F facility in the US

- it does rain some in the winter so get some rain gear and have a blast

There are not tons of hotel rooms there. Just went for JOs and most of our team had to stay an hour away Salem at crappy hotels for like $300 a night. That is in no way reasonable. And it's like this for any meet there, not just the WC.