Come On!! Why is the NCAA XC Championships held on a Monday, and in Terre Haute? This is BAD for the sport.

But who in those or any other area is clamouring to actually do the work and spend the money to organize the championships?

You can say all you want about where the races should be held, but if you've got no one stepping up to put them together, you're not going to have much of an event.

The NCAA should take over the process and put on the D1 champs in cities such as Orlando, Houston, San Diego, Dallas, or some other warm tourist area. If not cross country will remain "what's cross country ?" in the American sports fan's mind.

NCAA XC should not be an opening act for a PED promotional event like the NY Marathon. NCAA XC should be held on a saturday in Orlando, Houston, San Diego, Dallas, or some other warm tourist area.

There's so many stupid asses from coast to coast. Example, Adidas Portland puts on the yearly Adidas Track Classic at a track with no toilets, no running water, no seat backs, no shade, no food concessions, with temporary seats, the press box built on the wrong side of the track, in the middle of a urban warzone, on a weekend full of local high school track rivalries. And then they blame the fans for not showing up. Good thing Adidas Portland isn't secretly owned by China as Nike is, Adidas Portland would have their heads chopped off by Beijing.

Boy are you dumb! They dont have the staff, and which school in those cities would host on what course?

At the NCCA office in Indy, XC / T&F has newbies in charge. New employess just out of college get assigned to T&F and XC. Everyone wants to move up to soccer, baseball, basketball, then look for a job at a pro team. That's why we get the worst service from the NCAA and get stuck with championships at godforsaken piss hole towns like Fayetteville, Des Moines, Eugene, Austin, etc. The T&F and XC people are the worst lightweights and often have to be trained by the schools themselves. If T&F / XC were big time NCAA sports, the championships would always held at a tourist spot in a big media town, with plenty of hotels, public transportation, and coverage. But we're stuck with the bozos (who can't get a pro job) at NCAA, Nike, Adidas, USATF, etc.

Amateur Hour wrote:

At the NCCA office in Indy, XC / T&F has newbies in charge. New employess just out of college get assigned to T&F and XC. Everyone wants to move up to soccer, baseball, basketball, then look for a job at a pro team. That's why we get the worst service from the NCAA and get stuck with championships at godforsaken piss hole towns like Fayetteville, Des Moines, Eugene, Austin, etc. The T&F and XC people are the worst lightweights and often have to be trained by the schools themselves. If T&F / XC were big time NCAA sports, the championships would always held at a tourist spot in a big media town, with plenty of hotels, public transportation, and coverage. But we're stuck with the bozos (who can't get a pro job) at NCAA, Nike, Adidas, USATF, etc.

Well you are partially correct, except for the fact that the majority of the employees who make the ultimate decisions are 40 years old and up. This discussion has been brought up before then shot down due to old traditions of the Championship race being on Monday. From our standpoint the main reason XC has no place in scheduling or glamour is because is that there is no real place for it to become a true professional sport in the eyes of American society. However because of the Olympic tradition of running the NCAA admins make whatever space available to keep the sport alive. They see it as a fitness sport.

At the NCCA office in Indy, XC / T&F has newbies in charge. New employess just out of college get assigned to T&F and XC. Everyone wants to move up to soccer, baseball, basketball, then look for a job at a pro team. That's why we get the worst service from the NCAA and get stuck with championships at godforsaken piss hole towns like Fayetteville, Des Moines, Eugene, Austin, etc. The T&F and XC people are the worst lightweights and often have to be trained by the schools themselves. If T&F / XC were big time NCAA sports, the championships would always held at a tourist spot in a big media town, with plenty of hotels, public transportation, and coverage. But we're stuck with the bozos (who can't get a pro job) at NCAA, Nike, Adidas, USATF, etc.

Amateur Hour wrote:

If T&F / XC were big time NCAA sports, the championships would always held at a tourist spot in a big media town, with plenty of hotels, public transportation, and coverage. But we're stuck with the bozos (who can't get a pro job) at NCAA, Nike, Adidas, USATF, etc.

Talk about amateur hour...

You obviously seem to think that it is the NCAA office that has the manpower, money and organizational structure to actually setup and run a championships meet instead of awarding it to a local organization that actually has the people willing and able to take on that major task.

I suppose you also believe that it was the IOC and not the local committee in Atlanta that put on the 1996 Olympics.

I like the current format, Monday and site, Terre Haute. Cross-country never has been & never will be popular outside of those that participate, coaches, friends & family. Too many here feel the Monday meet should be the equivalent of Monday Night Running. Not. Going. To. Happen. Ever. The NCAA D-1 men's & women's cross-country Champs remains pretty much the fastest & deepest foot race in America and will remain that way regardless of where and when it's run. That, my friends, is a good thing.

Um, yeah wrote:

Talk about amateur hour...

You obviously seem to think that it is the NCAA office that has the manpower, money and organizational structure to actually setup and run a championships meet instead of awarding it to a local organization that actually has the people willing and able to take on that major task.

I suppose you also believe that it was the IOC and not the local committee in Atlanta that put on the 1996 Olympics.

No, but it was the IOC that selected Atlanta. The IOC chose the location, not the local organizing committee. And if there was something that the IOC didn't like in Atlanta's proposal, they would either select another city or press the organizing committee to make changes.

In the NCAA, I agree that the most talented or innovative people are working on the high-revenue sports, not XC. And, as a result, instead of the NCAA developing some sort of vision of what the xc champs should be like, they are happy to take the path of least resistance, which is awarding the meet to whatever farm town wants to have it.

If the NCAA was motivated to change things, they certainly could. There are big meets in VCP and Franklin Park every weekend....it wouldn't be too difficult to find someone in NYC or Boston to lead the organizing. It might be more expensive to host, but there are probably some nominal incremental sponsorship opportunities also. The point is that it would take more effort on behalf of the NCAA, but they don't really have a major incentive to put in the work. Oh well.

Xc will be a niche sport forever if all we can muster is meets in the freezeing cold at Van Cortland Mafia Cemetery, Wabash Family Corn Field, Portland Meadows Manure Dump, ... The only people who snow up are the athlete's parents, friends and former coaches.

The DII and DIII championships are that Sat - back in the 70's - 80's the individual champs of those races got to race in the DI race 2 days later (several of them placing quite well). Not sure if this had anything to do with why they started having the DI XC champs on the Monday of Turkey week.

One poster made a point that the Monday gets more media - it's not going up against College football on Sat or NFL on Sun.

Trade Show wrote:

NXN is not a cross race it's a trade fair in a godforsaken piss poor location in cold and wet Portland in December. Real Einsteins picked that one. More like real W. Bushs ;-) Footlocker is the big high school champs each year.

I am no Nike apologist but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the Footlocker folks send the PR minions to these threads.

No one who has attended NXN that I know (and I have talked to literally 25 to 30 coaches) has ever said a negative thing about the experience.

NXN is the National Championship for High School Cross Country.

Who Cares? wrote:

They could put the race on the infield of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, pack the place with 250,000 fans... and you know what? NO ONE WOULD CARE!

I completely disagree. There'd probably be at least 249,000 people pissed off that they're stuck watching a cross country meet.

kohlberg wrote:

No, but it was the IOC that selected Atlanta. The IOC chose the location, not the local organizing committee. And if there was something that the IOC didn't like in Atlanta's proposal, they would either select another city or press the organizing committee to make changes.

Absolutely, but despite asking several times, no one has suggested who else is actually volunteering to be selected. There were other bidders in addition to Atlanta. Anyone else bid for NCAA XC?

It'd be rather silly if the NCAA decided they were going to run their champs in VCP and everyone showed up, only to discover there was no one who was actually organizing the race.

You need to have that local organizing committee before you can make any kind of decision as to where to host. If it "wouldn't be too difficult to find someone in NYC or Boston to lead the organizing" just who do you think might not only be capable but willing to take on this job?

Too many people seem to think cross or track meets just happen.

Trade Show wrote:

NXN is not a cross race it's a trade fair in a godforsaken piss poor location in cold and wet Portland in December. Real Einsteins picked that one. More like real W. Bushs ;-) Footlocker is the big high school champs each year.

I agree, Footlocker is the real race for National caliber runners. The nike race just draws a bunch of nobodies, with one or two good runners showing up to beat these guys. Nike would be better off having the NXN three weeks later.

looks like nike hq in shanghai has responded on this thread. fl is the champs that hs runners have always sought out. nxn isn't a race or a champs it's a one day wet and cold junket for hs coaches with a demo race on sat that doesn't matter to anyone. nike tries all kind of marketing gimmicks like they brought hs kids from kenya to run the open race last year. that proves nxn is a advertising show akin to an rv show or gun show, versus a cross country meet.

USATF/NCAA pass the buck for the championships onto the schools and locals associations instead of taking the bull by the horns and acting as the shepherd of our sport. Consequently the championships venues and locations suck. They are held in obsure little known towns that nobody ever heard of, and would never think of, because there is nothing there. I mean think about it, who would ever go to Austin, Indianapolis, Eugene, Des Moines, Bronx, Terre Haute, Evanston IN, etc. for a weekend or summer vacation ? No one that's who. Why, because those places suck.

The real reason that the NCAA Cross Country championships has been held on a Monday is that its a slow press day. Not that many big stories are coming out from the weekend thus they can attempt to get more media coverage. It's not a bad thing and espically since Verus has picked up the NCAA Championships, it looks like its working well.

Um, yeah wrote:

Absolutely, but despite asking several times, no one has suggested who else is actually volunteering to be selected. There were other bidders in addition to Atlanta. Anyone else bid for NCAA XC?

It'd be rather silly if the NCAA decided they were going to run their champs in VCP and everyone showed up, only to discover there was no one who was actually organizing the race.

You need to have that local organizing committee before you can make any kind of decision as to where to host. If it "wouldn't be too difficult to find someone in NYC or Boston to lead the organizing" just who do you think might not only be capable but willing to take on this job?

Well, they found someone to organize NCAA Regionals in VCP and Franklin Park, so, it's obviously possible. Again, all it takes is a minimal amount of initiative and pursuasion to make it happen. For example: VCP and Franklin Park host Regionals in alternate years. So, in the year that one hosts Regionals, NCAA could try to talk the other location into hosting Nationals. That's just one idea, and I'm sure that if someone at NCAA was sufficiently motivated, they could come up with many more (and better) ideas.

And for clarification, the main benefit to holding Nationals in a larger city isn't for the spectators, although that would be an improvement. It's to make it easier for the national press (which are largely based in the Northeast corridor) to cover the meet. It's hard to get any journalists to fly out to Des Moines.