Yes you did explain well why these meets are ultimately footnotes. That being said, people do enjoy watching non-major PGA/Tennis events. That’s done through a few mechanisms, namely prestige, history or rules that make the events properly stacked.
Thats probably what the DL should be but track is unfortunately very watered down (too many meets) and political (not a meritocracy for getting lanes). GST is a positive in the challenger recruitment is trying to get the best guys it seems.
Ultimately it does feel like there could be some sort of meet minimum for a pro track athlete to do championships.
It's done through an unequivocal ranking system. At all times, the world knows who the #1 tennis player is. And the #5, and the #10. Everything can affect that, so everything becomes interesting.
If competing and doing well meant you could be the #1 ranked runner at any given moment, the sport could be saved by that alone.
Imagine if Kerr's GST Miami win bumped Jakob out of the official #1 ranking! Jakob would go race somewhere, even if not vs kerr.
I doubt Jakob cares about Kerr´s world ranking.
And I don´t think Jakob will change his schedule if Kerr should dethrone him in the 1500m ranking (which is VERY unlikely: Kerr has a 1500m score just under 1400; Jakob has 1501).
I love the distance events as well, but honestly, why does it matter if in a 12 and a half lap race if they cut away for less than a lap for a field event update? Maybe not in the 15, but honestly, in the races where the runners are just basically holding their position and running in a bunch, does it really matter? Perhaps for Die Hard distance fans I guess, but personally I think it's an understandable way of including everything in a nice tight to our broadcast.
Good question. You're right that nothing usually happens in the early stages of distance races (especially races that have pacers and pacing lights), but in the case of the Shanghai DL men's steeplechase, something did happen while they were showing a field event, and the commentator didn't know about it. Can you imagine a soccer game cutting away to a rugby match, and when they returned to the soccer game, a team had taken the lead and the commentator didn't know how?
Also: the first cutaway from the women's 5K to the high jump lasted nearly two minutes.
You can watch a Diamond League meet live from start to finish which takes about 2 hours. In my (and a lot of others') case it's both free to watch and completely ad-free with great commentary.
Watching GST live is a waste of time. I only watch the replay so I can skip past all the fluff (which is about 85% of the runtime) and just see the races.
That is what seals the deal completely for most people.
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- It feels cold and impersonal? Like others have stated before me, who cares? I get both pre- and post race interviews with athletes in every DL broadcast, and I hate it. Don't need to hear the same cookie-cutter answers repeated ad nauseum. The last thing I need is an expansion of that in the form of human interest features. Instagram handles? You must be joking. I want racing.
- Too scattered. Yes, this is annoying. Field events in the middle of distance races (3000, 3000mSC, 5000) is bad. Oh, another invalid long jump, how intriguing. Let me see the race please.
- It feels stale? I don't get what you mean. It's very simple. People run as fast as they can on a track, what's there to innovate? Should the DL start mixing up their presentation by withholding any and all information like the GST? Lap times? Wind speed? World leading times? PR, NR, AR, WR? The GST is clueless in this area and a few flashy graphics during the line introduction isn't changing that. They barely recognized the significance of a 12.17 when it happened.
The GST competition takes less than 2 hours each day. They just start the broadcast with a preview show and end it with a recap show. Watching live, you could easily just tune in a couple minutes before the listed start time for the first race, and you'd have less than 2 hours to watch.
I understand many people here only want racing. But I also see many people here responding favorably to things like seeing the feature on Alison dos Santos's background, learning about Jacory Patterson working at UPS while training, and hearing Dylan Beard talk about pursuing his track dreams while working at Walmart.
To be successful, a sport has to appeal to a broad audience. Different types of people are drawn to different things. Yes, of course, the primary focus always needs to be on the competition. But, to draw and keep a wider audience, there needs to be more.
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nobody watches, except euros who will watch anything
And I don´t think Jakob will change his schedule if Kerr should dethrone him in the 1500m ranking (which is VERY unlikely: Kerr has a 1500m score just under 1400; Jakob has 1501).
Jakob would care if world ranking actually meant something, like it does it tennis. Through a scoring system everyone knows about, and talks about all the time.
Then uff-da fanboys such as yourself would grind your teeth to know Kerr is #1. That's right, #2. Is Jakob even second best at this point?
I watched both DL and GST this weekend. While DL was more polished because of its maturity, I found GST to be more exciting and energetic. Despite some production issues—most of which could be easily improved—GST stood out with features that enhanced the viewing experience: things like distance countdowns during races, engaging crowd interactions by the athletes, athlete bios, post-event wrap-up interviews, more thoughtful Q&A sessions with competitors after their races and athletes competing at distances that are not their pet events.