Very impressive swimming turnout. Let’s face it track was never a popular spectator sport and never will be regardless of where the major meets are located
Is Let’s Run the absolute laziest excuse for journalism ever? Article aggregation is 95% of the news coverage and original writing is mostly fluff pieces like the tattoo article. Citius just crushes you guys with interesting reporting, access, and sit downs with athletes. LRC? Tries crowd sourcing for content and car rides from locals while the forum constantly sh*ts all over Eugene and Oregonians in general. Quite the business you boys got here!
The difference between Citius and us is no one at Citius would ever post what I just posted. They are a PR outfit for athletes, shoe conpanies, Grand Slam Track, etc. I don't want to be that.
That being said, "Wejo would probably tell me. What do you get form putting that post under you rname? Post it under a fake name."
Please don’t change rojo and please don’t post under a fake name. It blows my mind how people consistently get all worked up about how the site is run. Why would ppl want you to replicate what citius does? We already have citius and it’s kind of boring. We don’t need another. Idk, if you don’t like lrc then don’t visit the site. Plenty of people love it and the brojos will be fine without you. You’ve got to be some kind of weirdo to get upset with how this site is run
Is Let’s Run the absolute laziest excuse for journalism ever? Article aggregation is 95% of the news coverage and original writing is mostly fluff pieces like the tattoo article. Citius just crushes you guys with interesting reporting, access, and sit downs with athletes. LRC? Tries crowd sourcing for content and car rides from locals while the forum constantly sh*ts all over Eugene and Oregonians in general. Quite the business you boys got here!
The difference between Citius and us is no one at Citius would ever post what I just posted.
Perhaps they are too busy covering the action on the track and interviewing athletes IN EUGENE and not watching NBC coverage from their sofa in Baltimore? I suspect that they also believe that track fans are more interested in what Grant, Parker, Nico, Sha'Carri, and Athing are doing and saying rather than asking message board strangers as many empty seats in stadium, why? Great reporting, Scoops Pulitzer!
Yes, Citius does some real softball stuff just like NBC, ESPN, or any other network. They are also giving fans what they want and getting it directly from those involved. Good journalism is not weird guerrilla "gotcha" questions shouted in the mixed zone or speculation about message board rumors performed by three tired looking men on a Zoom meeting.
For all of your ranting about USATF and Nike controlling the message (and they do to some extent), what have you exposed? What hard evidence of corruption have you unearthed? Who have you brought to shame and justice with investigative digging? LRC reminds me of a certain public figure that is always looking very strongly into things but then never follows up, never finds anything, and then distracts by rambling about tattoos or two-decade old call room pranks.
Just because Citius likes to play nice with everyone and Let's Run is willing to say, "That guy sucks!", that doesn't make you any more legitimate nor a champion of the people.
I can only speak for myself, but I do think location plays a big part in the low turnout. I'm in my early 20s and only lived in the east coast/midwest. Travel and accommodations for a trials trip is prohibitively expensive for me at this point. Sure, maybe in 5-10 years when I'm more established in my career I can afford to drop a couple thousand to go to Oregon for a few days, but that isn't happening now.
I second the people who said to hold it in a more major city, and I'd go further and say hold it somewhere like NYC or Philadelphia. Put the meet somewhere where more Americans actually live and hype it up like the swimming trials this year, and you'd see far more people. At least I'd go.
I can’t think of any organizations besides Tracktown who are bidding for the national championships right now. It seems like whatever appetite and funding there was for it in Sacramento is done and why would Mt SAC ever want to bid again after having had the Trials taken away from them a few years ago. It felt like Des Moines was putting themselves in line for bidding for the Olympic Trials but that seems no longer the case, and I assume the next Trials will go to LA as a shake out for the Olympics.
I don’t believe there’s any stadium in the northeast that meets the requirements for capacity and warmup.
I'm not American but it seems absurd to hold the trials in a city with ~180k population when track isn't a particularly popular sport. Stick it in New York.
Because the Eugene and Oregon areas are home to large numbers of rabid track and field fans. NYC not so much.
I think there are a few reasons why we aren’t seeing full stands in Eugene as we did years ago.
One is event fatigue: this is the fourth straight Olympic Trials here and the tenth USA Championships in 16 years. That’s on top of ten NCAA Championships in 14 years, a world championships, a number of PAC-12 championships, the usual Oregon home meets and the state high school championships. It’s a lot to keep going back to the same place if you have limited vacation time and money.
Another is cost. Eugene isn’t easy to get to with limited hotels and high prices when a big event is in town. And as much as inflation has raised prices, wages haven’t kept pace so you’re asking track fans to pay more now than you were a decade ago.
There’s also the Hayward factor. A lot of the hardcore base and old timers loved the old Hayward field and aren’t as excited about the modern edition.
And that point leads me to the old timers themselves. We have an aging fanbase and how many have gotten too old to travel or have sadly died in the last decade, especially with the toll that the pandemic took on the elderly? I have a few older track fans who were Trials regulars but have since died.
Yes, that is true Augusto, the hard core fans are literally dying off.
If you walk around Hayward there are very few younger fans. The older die hard fans are dying off for sure and the younger "fans" might follow the sport to some degree on social media but do not understand why anyone would want to go sit in a stadium to watch a meet.
Anyone? And I know it's hot - extremely hot - in the unsaded side? But anyone have tickets? Are you sitting the shade somewhere? Watching from the concourse?
Yes as “unsaded side” REAL hot as sitting the shade TONS better as why you no their Rojo? As you REAL good journalist as you should be their as you there that means more people as that better for the trails as why you no there
So, true. I paid over $1000 for finish line seats, only to have some young doosh in a USATF media vest stand up right in my view to film every finish with his not-so-smart phone. Due to the 10-day ticketing, I'm stuck in the same spot all week. Maybe I'll just go to the Wild Duck and watch his IG feed....
Anyone? And I know it's hot - extremely hot - in the unsaded side? But anyone have tickets? Are you sitting the shade somewhere? Watching from the concourse?
Does anyone know why the owners of a site dedicated to running would not be at an event which seems to involve running at the highest level so they can answer their own idiotic questions?
Does anyone know why the owners of a site dedicated to running would not be at an event which seems to involve running at the highest level so they can answer their own idiotic questions?
Turn off your adblock and maybe they'll be able to afford plane tickets next time.
So, true. I paid over $1000 for finish line seats, only to have some young doosh in a USATF media vest stand up right in my view to film every finish with his not-so-smart phone. Due to the 10-day ticketing, I'm stuck in the same spot all week. Maybe I'll just go to the Wild Duck and watch his IG feed....
Those vests are a controversy all by itself. Nike Strategic Marketing creators have those vests. The word from the fans from Portland is Nike is being sued by the Portland Associated Press for not issuing those vests to journalists.
USATF does not want an all-comers meet at a national championships or trials. I dont blame them. They do however need to pour more money into meaningful grass roots programs while maintaining the best track and field team in the world. They're greedy at the top and think what they have is all they need. Unfortunately, empty stands, or appearance of, does not sell the sport.
While visiting with athletes and parent as well as coaches and former greats still connected to USATF, they are all grateful for what they have in terms of opportunities. They all would love to see a full house. Het, this is America and theres so many facets out of control in a free market thats attached to this sport that dont care about the sport, yet control prices. Gouging is rampant and its just not worth it to the casual fan and many passionate supporters alike. I am blessed to be able to get wherever the meets are. I do feel bad for the many that justifiably cant attend as they please. However, based on my experiences for 40+years, if you can find a way to get here, it gets easier the next time because you experience thing you cant from afar and you want it again and again. I have been really creative over the years and have no regrets. Regardless of the cost increases, its just become a priority and ive found new ways to make it possible. Not everyone wants to stay that commited for that long.
US swim trials isn’t an all comers meet. It just has more athletes allowed to compete. Instead at usatf we have heats eliminating a couple runners. It is a joke. Each athlete participating brings friends and family. People that are track fans, but might not otherwise spend all the time and money to attend and watch in person.
I can only speak for myself, but I do think location plays a big part in the low turnout. I'm in my early 20s and only lived in the east coast/midwest. Travel and accommodations for a trials trip is prohibitively expensive for me at this point. Sure, maybe in 5-10 years when I'm more established in my career I can afford to drop a couple thousand to go to Oregon for a few days, but that isn't happening now.
I second the people who said to hold it in a more major city, and I'd go further and say hold it somewhere like NYC or Philadelphia. Put the meet somewhere where more Americans actually live and hype it up like the swimming trials this year, and you'd see far more people. At least I'd go.
Ummm, as an attendee when the OT was in NYC, it was in a blah stadium and given the local population turnout was feeble. Dan and Dave and all that and still under attended. Myth. You will only be more disappointed. Went to Sacramento, NYC, and Eugene and Eugene was the best hands down!
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