Why does everyone care if track is popular? Just let it be, and run for love of the sport. Why overanalyze things? It's not going anywhere.
Why does everyone care if track is popular? Just let it be, and run for love of the sport. Why overanalyze things? It's not going anywhere.
What LR does not seem to understand is that T$F is already popular...in Europe, where people are not fat couch potato slobs and where endurance/sprinting athletics is a valued sport.
Just change the name from track to Lebron James and we will have 24/7 sports center coverage.
coach bigfoot wrote:
Have someone pay ESPN to mention something about track a certain amount of times a week. That way sports fans HAVE to watch and listen if they want to see other sports.
Laundry Basket wrote:
One reason many pro meets are boring is the athletes train through almost every race in order to peak for a few important races. Who wants to watch the meets where the athletes aren't at their best? Especially when the meet is an exhibition, and the results don't much matter.
i think any sport that has a season in which teams compete against teams (baseball, basketball, etc) is presenting athletes that aren't at their best throughout the season. i think it adds drama in many instances.
Fat ladies trying to loose weight by doing the local "5K Run for Rectal Cancer" do not in any way give a rat's behind about track!
TheTrackLover wrote:
I find it interesting how many people say road runners just are not interested in track meets so don't even bother. Well what strategy was used to market the sport to them? Did someone just show up and hand out a bunch of free tickets to a meet? Well I would not care either. A better approach would be to involve a few pro runners in some of these road racing events to do a quick talk on technique, training that sort of thing. In other words give the amateurs a window into the world of the pros - then you can entice them with actually going to see pros compete.
Another thing that track needs to do is to find a way to make the meet as a whole matter. I think the way to do that is having dual or better yet international team competitions. The team format has been smacked down many times on here as unworkable and it is unworkable if you have a bunch of random people making up a team. But international team competition is a workable format, just look at the world cup, and depending on the mix of events does not necessarily guarantee that only one country would dominate.
Sleepy Sam Hayakawa wrote:
USATF is way ahead of you. The USATF Club Champs is exactly what you have described and is at SF State U tomorrow Friday and Saturday.
did you mean to reply to my message? because the event you're talking about takes place over 3 days, and happens annually. i'm talking about a 5 event meet that takes 75 minutes and happens a few times a week. or maybe i googled the wrong thing.
cheese stalker wrote:
Why does everyone care if track is popular? Just let it be, and run for love of the sport. Why overanalyze things? It's not going anywhere.
i just like watching track on tv. i think the type of meet i'm talking about would get okay air time, and would cut out all these annoying back story segments. i don't directly care if it's popular, but if it's not popular, they don't show it. or when they do show it, they add a lot of crap they think will be popular, and cut to commercial with a mile to go in a 5k.
Here is an idea. Have Track only meets let's face it no one cares about Field. You could have Field only events for the 2 or 3 people who will show up. Some sort of a Track league with more relays would be a popular idea, I belive.
Here's a plan to sabotage the popularity of the NBA:
1. Legalize goaltending. Allow defender to guard the basket.
2. Institute an offsides rule.
3. If that doesn't do it, only allow goaltenders to touch the ball with their hands.
Lakers and Celtics nil-nil.
Yay, we tied!
Just Track please wrote:
Here is an idea. Have Track only meets let's face it no one cares about Field. You could have Field only events for the 2 or 3 people who will show up. Some sort of a Track league with more relays would be a popular idea, I belive.
i think people will like the jav and the long jump. but you can't have a lot of standing around, and flights. and measuring needs to be sped up compared to measurements with tape. and it's gotta be three attempts and you're done. you get 90 seconds to make your attempt. an all-relay league would be great too.
The point is your no name athletes have to compete at clubs. That's all there is for you. There's no money for your idea. USATF can't approve T&F at doped MLB, NFL, etc. games, and it would be an outrage to virtually all athletes to be affiliated by NFL and MLB dopers. Plus DMR is a kiddies race. Meet directors do DMRs as feel good filler races so everyone gets a medal to show to mommy.
rixctf wrote:
Just Track please wrote:Here is an idea. Have Track only meets let's face it no one cares about Field. You could have Field only events for the 2 or 3 people who will show up. Some sort of a Track league with more relays would be a popular idea, I belive.
i think people will like the jav and the long jump. but you can't have a lot of standing around, and flights. and measuring needs to be sped up compared to measurements with tape. and it's gotta be three attempts and you're done. you get 90 seconds to make your attempt. an all-relay league would be great too.
I actually never thought the field events were boring. The shot put can be pretty cool, and there's not a lot of standing around. The others, they usually don't show besides long jump. High jump and pole vault only get shown when something important is happening.
Sleepy Sam Hayakawa wrote:
The point is your no name athletes have to compete at clubs. That's all there is for you. There's no money for your idea. USATF can't approve T&F at doped MLB, NFL, etc. games, and it would be an outrage to virtually all athletes to be affiliated by NFL and MLB dopers. Plus DMR is a kiddies race. Meet directors do DMRs as feel good filler races so everyone gets a medal to show to mommy.
yeah. amateur clubs. no problem with that one if that's all you could get. i just want it on tv because i would want to watch it.
i'm not sure what the other stuff about doping is that you're talking about. maybe that was to the op and his idea about having meets during half time. anyway, i see no need to affiliate track as a sideshow to other sports.
that's an interesting take on the DMR.
cheese stalker wrote:
I actually never thought the field events were boring. The shot put can be pretty cool, and there's not a lot of standing around. The others, they usually don't show besides long jump. High jump and pole vault only get shown when something important is happening.
yeah, i like the shot put. but i feel like the jav, being a typical throwing motion rather than a put, is easier to relate with, and so easier to get people to watch. but they don't show it often.
i feel the same way with the long jump compared to the pole vault and the high jump.
omg i cant believe i just read that it was soooooo gay fucckking retarded oooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmggggggggggggg
Whatever you do, make it for TV. Like every Monday night in May and a Championship in June. All you have to do is get the word out that its Monday nights in May. 2 hours per week. Simple and effective.
Serve beer and have some loud music.
And hopefully show at least 2 or 3 races between commercial breaks.
Not with NFL dopers or MLB dopers. No way.
Mixing track with other professional sports will make track look like a joke anyways. Look, like I said before track could be a mainstream sport if the money was put into it. I think it would have to have its own draft system like the NBA or NFL, limit the number of events to about 10, choose those events wisely based on what is most exciting to watch (again distance events ARE okay), and make sure the contracts were enticing enough for the country's best athletes to want to be in this league.
Mixing track with other professional sports will make track look like a joke anyways.
I agree with you, but using another sport would propel a Professional Track League. Have a few halftime events to promote it Monday Night Football would be a great time for it
you need to be have it on the board in vegas. If people have money on the line they will start to pay attention. Track could be just the same as horse racing...