Albuquerque put up the money, and the East Coast venues have not bid.
It is all money. The USA Natl. should be run where Indoor track is popular. USATF should make it so Boston has it one year (Reggie, BU, Harvard and a New Balance facility in two years), then NYC, then Virginia Tech, perhaps PSU, then down to the Texas Tech, Albuquerque and then begin the rotation again.
Make the indoor championships where indoor track is actually run.
It is all money and if sponsors dont step up there is a void. Look at what happened in saint louis at cross nats. The shoe stores and a hs were sponsors. These folks filled the void because other sponsors couldn't be found. The sports commission couldnt even land a big money sponsor. Until sponsors see track and xc as a good investment they will suffer.
just my 2 cents
Thomas
The TFAA should guide their members to National Championships. You will not increase the sponsorship pie with time trials and extended training camp stints in pursuit of future time trials.
rojo wrote:
I 100% disagree with the original poster. Going in, I was focused on the negative - small field sizes - and thought it was going to be awful.
Instead, I think it was really, really good.
The meet was on national tv. The portion I watched (only today on tv - only today) was a pretty darn good tv product in my book. Cain's win was great. Leer's as well. Sowinski in the 800 vs Andrews, Centro and Mulder was fantastic. Ajee Wilson winning the women's 800.
A world record in the women's pole vault, a world leader in the men's shot put.
Yes the fields were barely acceptable, but if you watched it, it was great.
Track doesn't need a lot of bodies to be popular - it just needs one or two compelling story lines per race and the events today had that. There was cherry in the 60 and wariner. Good, entertaining stuff.
-Rojo
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Here is the problem with your analysis Rojo. It might have turned out to be a good meet, but nothing in the build up to the event suggest it was even worthwhile to pay attention to.
And if you are only relying on it being a good meet during the meet. It's too late. On paper, if you looked at the meet...and many did and saw that most of the decent runners, sprinters and throwers simply skipped the meet. The biggest name was a high school runner - a top class runner - but still a high school runner.
if this meet was in Boston or NYC, the lack of stars and events with only 4 people in it would not bring me in the door. And I'm a huge track fan. It would not bring ESPN to telecast. It would not sell ad or tickets.
By my count there was only a small handful of olympians. You can't market that.
Track doesn't need a lot of bodies to be popular - it just needs one or two compelling story lines per race...
____________________________________________________
Heart tugging story lines. Hmmm
Track is an orphan to the general populace and, therefore, to well-heeled sponsors. NBC put on three hours of golf on Sunday because NBC had sustaining sponsors to fill that time. Track is much too difficult to fully understand; it requires discernment. Is Joe Sixpack able to meet this prerequisite? That guy cannot even see the elemental beauty (or, if you will, porn) in running. For that he turns to SI's Swimsuit Issue. If you don't fully understand it, track devolves into who won and how many medals did our guys get.
If and when track gets popular, no one will be able to tell the difference between track and beach bikini ball. THAT stuff gets sponsors.
Yes they were an embarrassment - I wonder if less damage would have been done to the sport if the TV broadcast had been cancelled!
USATF have to decide what they want to do about their championships (indoors and out)in "off" years, i.e. when they are not the qualification for OG,WC or WIC
Androgny:
As someone directly involved in the USATF Championship you clearly DON'T know what you speak of. First off, were you at the meet? If not then shut up. The fans were into the meet, and enjoyed a competitive track meet. Sure, many of the stars didn't show up, but if you can't get excited about watching a world record in the PV, or a sub-4:00 mile, or a world-leading throw in the Shot then you really aren't a track fan but a road racer. I think we focused our attention on who WAS there, and not on who WASN'T there. I enjoyed it. Was as good as last year, well certainly not. But I watched the fans and they loved it. And no matter what that is what is important....the paying customers got their moneys worth.
Putting on a meet is a huge undertaking with hundreds of staff and months of work. When you have TV involved it is quite complex. COULD New York and Boston do it? Yes. Do they want to do it? No. We submitted a bid like anyone else did and won the bid. We have set our minds to doing the best job possible.
Everyone thinks that the athletes, officials, USATF want to be on the East coast. You would be wrong. A large percentage of the athletes and officials want nothing to do with the cold, snowy, East coast where they get ripped off by the motel, food, airline prices. They can come to ABQ very affordably and be treated with respect, and enjoy incredible sunshine.
You are right the Armory puts on meets all the time and that is precisely the problem.
I will guarantee you that the personal attention and friendly atmosphere that the athletes, officials, and everyone gets here is worth something. That is why USATF loves coming here.
We are not hip like Boston or NY, we are not cool like Boston or NY, we are just a bunch of hicks that most in the US think can't read and write. But we do know how to put on a dam good track meet with appreciative fans, and an LOC that would rival any in the country.
And by the way, it was a pretty good track meet no matter what anyone says.
The real problem is that nobody cares about indoor track (aside from *maybe* a "spectacle" meet like Millrose). Primarily, indoor is a niche that allows second tier athletes to claim they were "national champion" while all the first tier athletes at at home training for what really counts...outdoors. Indoor track is depressing. Slower times, less room to pass, poor indoor air quality, often the field houses aren't very large or spectator friendly. I live on the West Coast and indoor tracks basically don't exist. Nobody cares about that crap, especially when it is 70 degrees and sunny in February. I'm of the opinion that indoor track shouldn't even exist given that it basically dilutes talent across more unnecessary meets and crowns faux champions that undermine the legitimacy and fan appeal of track and field.
Shouldn't exist!? for people posting on a track and field based forum, there sure is a lack of coherent thought. So in a country where its an absolute struggle, most times an insurmountable one, to accomplish anything as a post collegiate, unless your top 2 in the world. And in a country that doesn't take track seriously as a sport except every four years and then the focus is two events the mile and the 100m. The remedy is to take AWAY and event?? and who was the meet embarrassing too?? the athletes that worked their butts off to compete, or the guy sitting on the couch with chip crumbs in his stubble watching on a webcast??? get outta here. I can think of ALOT of things more embarrassing to USA track and field than a post-olympic Indoor championship, which are usually down meets anyway. Kick rocks.
horse in the race wrote:
Androgny:
As someone directly involved in the USATF Championship you clearly DON'T know what you speak of. First off, were you at the meet? If not then shut up. The fans were into the meet, and enjoyed a competitive track meet. Sure, many of the stars didn't show up, but if you can't get excited about watching a world record in the PV, or a sub-4:00 mile, or a world-leading throw in the Shot then you really aren't a track fan but a road racer. I think we focused our attention on who WAS there, and not on who WASN'T there. I enjoyed it. Was as good as last year, well certainly not. But I watched the fans and they loved it. And no matter what that is what is important....the paying customers got their moneys worth.
Putting on a meet is a huge undertaking with hundreds of staff and months of work. When you have TV involved it is quite complex. COULD New York and Boston do it? Yes. Do they want to do it? No. We submitted a bid like anyone else did and won the bid. We have set our minds to doing the best job possible.
Everyone thinks that the athletes, officials, USATF want to be on the East coast. You would be wrong. A large percentage of the athletes and officials want nothing to do with the cold, snowy, East coast where they get ripped off by the motel, food, airline prices. They can come to ABQ very affordably and be treated with respect, and enjoy incredible sunshine.
You are right the Armory puts on meets all the time and that is precisely the problem.
I will guarantee you that the personal attention and friendly atmosphere that the athletes, officials, and everyone gets here is worth something. That is why USATF loves coming here.
We are not hip like Boston or NY, we are not cool like Boston or NY, we are just a bunch of hicks that most in the US think can't read and write. But we do know how to put on a dam good track meet with appreciative fans, and an LOC that would rival any in the country.
And by the way, it was a pretty good track meet no matter what anyone says.
this is the exactly the type of attitude that is killing track and field in the us -- telling someone to "shut-up" if she didn't take multiple connecting flights to watch what was the least competitive indoor nationals in decades with fields usually well under 10 deep. can we say insecure and myopia?
we focused on what a truly embarrassing and horrific meet you put on. since when is a sub 4 minute mile something to brag about? this isn't 1960. you further are clueless if you think that the only people who didn't show up were the distance runners. how about the sprinters? was felix there or did i miss her? what about gay? even the best highjumpers skipped the meet.
you also are wrong to think that "everyone" wants the meet on the east coast. the west coast would be fine too. we just don't want it at altitude in a city that doesn't have any direct flights to it and that is a hick town.
lastly, the fact that you think you are something special because the meet was so complex and hard to pull off shows how clueless you really are. the armory puts on meets much more complex all winter long. it's laughable that you think putting the meet on television somehow was impressive. do you not watch indoor track in the winter because there are a whole bunch of indoor track meets on television. go back to your wigwam and here's to hoping that nationals never are at your pit again.
"Horse in the Race":
Our sport is dying, and you're excited over a sub-4:00 mile? What is this, 1952 all over again?
Let's compare our indoor national championship product to some other sports: Stanley Cup, World Series, BCS Championship, Super Bowl, and NBA Finals.
Could you imagine ANY of these sports playing their grand finale in some obscure state with a unknown players?
Could a high school kid "win" in any other of these sports?
Most distance races on the track are 8-12 guys. The men's 3k had four. How would it look if, in the NBA Finals, they played a game of 3-on-3?
We must have high expectations. There is no excuse for this, and shame on everyone who had a hand in thinking having this race in altitude in the mid west is in the best interests of the sport and its athletes.
Americans prefer sports that keep team scores.
No Androngy YOUR attitude is what is killing track & field. Always looking for the negative and not the positive. Its people like YOU that disgust me and I would not want anyone like you in my place.
Some comments from someone who was there...
To argue athletes didn't show up because the meet was in Albuquerque is ignorant. This hasn't been the case in the past. Both Rupp and Lagat have raced the last few years, as has Symmonds.
Lagat and Symmonds both appeared to be last minute scratches.
Indoor track is much more exciting and marketable than outdoor.
To be an elite runner and not show up to a national championship race, but race elsewhere, is arguably the biggest reason the sport isn't more popular. I don't care if USATF sucks - fans go to national championships to see the best, when that doesn't happen - why go to a track meet at all?
I became a much bigger fan of Centro for showing up and running two events.
For those knocking Will Leer - he gained more new fans at that meet than Lomong, Ritz, Rupp, Teg, Symmonds and all the others who chose to race elsewhere. He was one of the highlights of the meet and I hope he continues to crush.
Mary Cain is great for the sport.
Jenn Suhr is a beast.
ever notice that no other country in the world pulls out the "altitude" excuse in pathetically slow races?
jackob wrote:
ever notice that no other country in the world pulls out the "altitude" excuse in pathetically slow races?
well except the bloody KENYANS moved their 10k OG trials to sea level.
It is disappointing that more of our sports stars didn't show for indoor nationals, but I don't think the location was the primary factor. Next year, at the same location, we'll see many more of our top athletes present simply due to it being a WC year. I'm sure some distance runners are hesitant to go to ABQ due to the altitude, but as someone else pointed out many of our top guys, including Rupp, Lagat, and Manzano, have all competed in ABQ more than once. And for sprinters and jumpers the altitude is a plus. It works both ways.
Regarding the comments about Leer's 3:58, yes, a sub 4 at altitude is impressive. Thinking otherwise is just a sign of your ignorance with regards to the effects of racing at altitude.
Track & field in this country needs an overhaul. I'm not sure where to begin, hosting a national championship in Albuquerque is not the problem.
Are we back to Albuquerque next year?
One more year, I believe.
NCAAs will also be in Albuquerque next year.
give me some fresh air wrote:
The real problem is that nobody cares about indoor track (aside from *maybe* a "spectacle" meet like Millrose). Primarily, indoor is a niche that allows second tier athletes to claim they were "national champion" while all the first tier athletes at at home training for what really counts...outdoors. Indoor track is depressing. Slower times, less room to pass, poor indoor air quality, often the field houses aren't very large or spectator friendly. I live on the West Coast and indoor tracks basically don't exist. Nobody cares about that crap, especially when it is 70 degrees and sunny in February. I'm of the opinion that indoor track shouldn't even exist given that it basically dilutes talent across more unnecessary meets and crowns faux champions that undermine the legitimacy and fan appeal of track and field.
You sir, are despicable!!!