American Distance Running: Why is it so UNDER-funded?

My only insight into this conversation is that I find other, much more popular, sports dreadfully boring. How can anyone watch baseball? I mean, they play over 100 games a year, and only about 6 minutes of a game is exciting.

What about Nascar? How can Nascar be popular? America is ridiculous! (I am from Wisonsin, not Europe).

Golf is also really boring, but it is marketed very well, has great commentators, and many Americans can relate.

THE PROBLEM IS NOT THAT IT IS BORING. The problems, as I see them, are 1) marketing, 2) lack of real races (not time trials, as others have pointed out), and 3) the lack of charasmatic stars.

Why is running underfunded? People like to watch people get hit. It's as simple as that. Sports like football and hockey are popular, because they are fun to watch. What we need is the ban on epo to end so people can start taking it without fear. That would be sweet, people running 12:00 for the 5k. Now that would draw a crowd.

(?) wrote:

A 5000m race is a long time to sit through? 13 minutes. That's a long time to sit there and keep your attention span? 13 minutes? That's amazing. I'm guessing you don't read much either.

You guessed wrong, my smug friend. (I probably read more than the typical Letsrunner, but that's neither here nor there.) I was referring to most 5000m races or record attempts (which aren't really races), not a world class championship competition. It's mostly just repetitive motion, there's truly little drama involved. I have a hard time watching ants go in and out of their hill for very long, too. I'm sure I'd get bored with a free-throw shooting contest or a field-goal kicking workout or a batting practice after about 10 minutes of each of those. Again, just repetitive motion and not really compelling.

I always thought cross country should be a contact sport.

competition & tactics wrote:

(?) wrote:

A 5000m race is a long time to sit through? 13 minutes. That's a long time to sit there and keep your attention span? 13 minutes? That's amazing. I'm guessing you don't read much either.

You guessed wrong, my smug friend. (I probably read more than the typical Letsrunner, but that's neither here nor there.) I was referring to most 5000m races or record attempts (which aren't really races), not a world class championship competition. It's mostly just repetitive motion, there's truly little drama involved. I have a hard time watching ants go in and out of their hill for very long, too. I'm sure I'd get bored with a free-throw shooting contest or a field-goal kicking workout or a batting practice after about 10 minutes of each of those. Again, just repetitive motion and not really compelling.

So you're saying "most 5000 meter" races are comparable to ants going in an out of a hill? And there's no more involved than repetitive moving of the legs. I suppose that depends on your particular perspective of the event, whose in the event, and how the event plays out. You have to know what you're looking for as you're watching the race. Is horse racing the same? Just repetive motion of the horses legs? Is cycling the same as ants climbing in and out of a hole? Just tires going around and around, right? Nothing more involved than tires going around. And baseball. Pitch after pitch. Why don't they go and hit somebody with the bat? Something a little less repetitive.

Perhaps before you can begin to appreciate the sport of distance running you have to understand what's inherent in the actual activity. The work that goes into it. The overall skill required to race at a high level. The amount of exertion and effort required in sustaining a fast pace, and the ability to know when and where to make the best move in order to win the race. After you understand these particularties, perhaps then you will be better suited in making an observation about the nature of the sport of distance running.

You're on to something txrunnergirl.

America only likes violent sports. Running is not violent; it is too much of an enigma for uber-violent American culture to understand, and will, therefore, never be a big money maker. Only if cross country courses are outfitted with land mines and the particpants armed with weapons will the American public appreciate the sport. It's a twisted little country we live in.

Well, because sponsors want their names attached to media reports that go out about the winners. Cut the purse and the quality of runners who will be at the race diminishes significantly and fewer media outlets care about who won and pick up the reports on the winners, meaning less exposure for a title sponsor and therefore less interest in being a title sponsor for a given race. The title sponsor earmarks how much it will pay for a prize purse, if race management funnels off some of that to defray costs that will allow them to lower entry fees then the title sponsor will not be pleased, since what they are basically paying for is exposure for an association in the media. I doubt very much whether any title sponsor of a major race is really concerned with how many runners enter or how much they have to pay to enter.

Um, I do understand all of that. I find auto racing boring, too. Same for horse racing. And cycling. And baseball. And I have an appreciation for just how difficult the skill level and work needed to excel at any is required. NASCAR's popularity is for other reasons, and pretty much all of those fans probably read less in a month than what's in this thread so far. I don't know what point you're trying to prove except that maybe you're out of touch with most of America. As someone stated earlier, this is a nation that doesn't really get subtlety. Even boxing is losing popularity. I don't watch tv as it's too ridiculous, yet a non-championship 5000m usually just isn't compelling for me. There is nothing that will change that fact. Come watch me meditate sometime if you're up for it.

because im pretty sure you dont race on the euro circuit buddy, or go to high altitude training camps either. or have a world class coach

The media and letsrun.com (wejo) have pretty much convinced the American public that runners are dirty. What's to like about watching a bunch of druggies?

You Americans are lazy and unambitious.

Sorry, it's true.[/quote]

You need to get some perspective on the number of spectator sports available in the U.S. vs. in Europe. Other than soccer, what else can you watch in Europe. You guys are right about the 70% fat statistic but I've never seen more drunk and obnoxious people in one plan than at a European soccer game. I think I would rather have the fat and lazy than the stupid, fat, and drunk. And a least our women shave their armpits and legs and don't stink like the hairy European ladies.

one other thing... wrote:

THE PROBLEM IS NOT THAT IT IS BORING. The problems, as I see them, are 1) marketing, 2) lack of real races (not time trials, as others have pointed out), and 3) the lack of charasmatic stars.

I agree with this. It's not rocket science. USATF is pathetic. They've done a great job of doing nothing. Marketing is number one. The sport must be promoted. Surely if the National Jump-roping Championships get ESPN time (and I'm not making that up), Track can get more significant air time.

As horrible as the managment of the sport has been though, more important are personalities. Track needs compelling and interesting personalities and rivalries. Who cares about short track speed skating? Then Apollo Ono appears and a totally obscure sport like that gets tons of attention. NASCAR is a regional sport with very limited national appeal, until a guy named Jeff Gordon changes everything. The NBA rode Larry Bird, Magic and especially Michael Jordon to prominance. Poker is all about the trash talking, bizarre, nicknamed personalities. What was golf really before Tiger? Lance Armstrong and bicycle racing has already been mentioned. Most of these sports have been driven by just one personality.

There is a big boxing match tonight, and while listening to sports radio what they are talking about is the lack of personalities in boxing has led to its demise. They are hoping this boxing match will reignite the sport. Soccer in the US is in the same boat. Sure, it's one of the most popular sports for kids to participate in. But when the US gets its butt handed to it and it has no star (Landon Donovan, or whatever his name is, is a) not a star by international standards and b) is freakin boring), nobody cares. Hockey probably suffers, even though it is a "major" sport, for the same reason. It's hard for American's to root for guys whose names they cannot pronounce.

Personalities and winning are what Americans are drawn to. They want to root for or totally root against someone. They will watch because they love someone AND because they hate someone, and are totally hooked if someone they love is up against someone they hate, and both have the talent and history to win.

This sport will not appeal to the American public if it is being dominated by a revolving door of Kenyans and Ethiopians. American runners, for the most part, are not compelling. They don't really compete. They don't put it on the line. They aren't a good interview. They are milk-toast boring. You can't sell boring, and you can't sell losers.

However, if a few dynamic, competitive, marketable Americans would appear, the sport would soar. No doubt about that.

I agree American track in general and distance running in particular needs someone who is competitive, marketable, and born in America to get some attention in this country.

competition & tactics wrote:

Um, I do understand all of that. I find auto racing boring, too. Same for horse racing. And cycling. And baseball. And I have an appreciation for just how difficult the skill level and work needed to excel at any is required. NASCAR's popularity is for other reasons, and pretty much all of those fans probably read less in a month than what's in this thread so far. I don't know what point you're trying to prove except that maybe you're out of touch with most of America. As someone stated earlier, this is a nation that doesn't really get subtlety. Even boxing is losing popularity. I don't watch tv as it's too ridiculous, yet a non-championship 5000m usually just isn't compelling for me. There is nothing that will change that fact. Come watch me meditate sometime if you're up for it.

Ok, wise Buddha. But I find meditation a bit too repetitive. The subtle humming, the tranquil ahhing - I find it........numbing. You're above the Evil T.V. and no sporting event intrigues you. You're mind knows no corporeal boundries. You're spirit can not be tarnished by that uninspiring non-world-championship 5000. Go meditate.

"It's tough to interest an uninteresting spirit"- I think Ghandi said that. Or Jesus. Not sure. Nanananananannaaa

It all starts at the bottom. As a lifelong distance runner-now-parent of a non-sprinter youth runner, it is virtually impossible to find clubs that are generalist in nature, meaning just not hell-bent on the 100m to 400m, never mind a club that focuses on distance runners. Cross country clubs are virtually non-existent at the youth level. So what would you expect? Scholastic teams are too late in the developmental game for Americans to think that is the answer to our woes in building distance runners from the early stages of sporting choices. We need to start training kids to accept distance running as a sport, not just some off-season activity to maintain fitness for what American socitey considers as mainstream sports. So step up at the local level and make something happen for the youth to build upon specifically in distance running, and development will occur from square one, that's my suggestion (and what I am doing).

The only people who can watch track are the runners who can break 14 for a 5k and 30 for a 10k, that limits the audience. Anyone who can't break those times has no right to be a fan of track.

Other sports welcome the couch potato, track scorns and ridicules anyone who wasnt at least a college track runner.

In 1993 professional cycling was on par with track in this country. Then an American won seven consecutive tours (please dispense with the tiresome doping snarks) and he made $50 million (and continues to make $10+ million a year) and cycling became about 10 times more popular than track.

Find me an American born runner that can consistently run a 12:45 5k and a 26:35 10k and he'll make millions and elevate the entire sport.

Regarding golf (was mentioned earlier), Tiger gets 40% of the TV revenue of every tourney he participates in (not including the majors). Golf is not popular, Tiger is. Without him, golf would be invisible.

This proves my point. We pay and watch the Americans compete to be the world's best. In distance running, we are not so no money.

i could draw you a supply and demand curve, but that would be stupid . . .

Zippity wrote:

There is a big boxing match tonight, and while listening to sports radio what they are talking about is the lack of personalities in boxing has led to its demise. They are hoping this boxing match will reignite the sport.

That's bull. Boxing is dead because of Ultimate Fighting/Mixed Martial Arts.