Sacramento: We're a better track town than Eugene - we just don't have the Nike money

Of course I'm from Sacramento. White chocolate #55. Google me.

I'm familiar with both Eugene and Sacramento and have attended Trials at both. Maybe I'm biased being a CA boy, but Sac gets the nod from me. And I would definitely argue that CA has better running AND beer than Oregon.

California has better beer than Oregon?

Ballast Point is solid, but Fort George will win a taste test anytime.

21st Amendment? Good, but Bridgeport beats it in quality and taste

For the Sacramento > Eugene/Eugene > Sacramento beer argument here is what Eugene has - Ninkasi, Oakshire, Agrarian, Claim 52, Falling Sky, Hop Valley, Plank Town, Rogue, Sam Bond's and Steelhead. Every single brewery listed here is solid and Ninkasi leads the pack.

Nice try but Oregon easily beats California when it comes to beer.

SacCity wins in hands down for it's synagouges, mosques, temples, shrines, and churches.

nonbiased analysis wrote:

Objectively, speaking he's got a point.

Here are the attendance figures:

2012 (Eugene): 173,153

2008 (Eugene): 167,123

2004 (Sac): 172,230

2000 (Sac): 187,104

Does Eugene sell out? Would there be higher attendances if the capacity was increased?

Ground Beef Chalupa wrote:

Nice try but Oregon easily beats California when it comes to beer.

You sure about that?

California does pretty well for itself beer-wise.

(and that's missing some)

Some NorCal favorites:

Lagunitas

Sierra Nevada

Russian River

Anchor

Anderson Valley

Bear Republic

...

Ground Beef Chalupa wrote:

For the Sacramento > Eugene/Eugene > Sacramento beer argument here is what Eugene has - Ninkasi, Oakshire, Agrarian, Claim 52, Falling Sky, Hop Valley, Plank Town, Rogue, Sam Bond's and Steelhead. Every single brewery listed here is solid and Ninkasi leads the pack.

Sacramento has more craft breweries than Eugene

Many of them quite good, too.

I'm a better runner than Galen Rupp. I just don't have his foot speed velocity.

Eugene is better than Palo Alto. The University of Oregon does NOT exclude Asian student applicants based on racism. Stanford University excludes Asian students based on racism with a limitation set at 20% of freshman admissions.

Go away Randy

I would vote for any place other than Eugene. Yes, I know they have great fans, and blah, blah, blah. But the allergies are horrible in Eugene, and there are scores of athletes and fans who suffer miserably in Eugene. Anyone with serious pulmonary issues can't go there. Not a place for championships.

People from Omaha also claim it's a "cool city"

jason williams 55 wrote:

Ground Beef Chalupa wrote:

Nice try but Oregon easily beats California when it comes to beer.

You sure about that?

California does pretty well for itself beer-wise.

http://www.californiacraftbeer.com/who-we-are/brewery-map/

(and that's missing some)

Some NorCal favorites:

Lagunitas

Sierra Nevada

Russian River

Anchor

Anderson Valley

Bear Republic

...

JW 55, you can't really be claiming that Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada are top notch?

Also, the list GB Chalupa mentioned were Eugene-based micros. Not the fake/strip mall variety "micro/pub" that either private labels some crap or produces mediocre brew.

No doubt the state of CA has plenty of good micros to address the nearly 40million residents (understandably a smaller fraction of drinking age), but you'll be hard pressed to make the claim that there's as concentrated a density of high quality micros as Eugene offers that are as connected to the vibe of track and field and the local community in Sac or anywhere else in CA

Btw, grew up in NorCal and still visit Bay Area and SoCal many times annually.

It seems to me all the points that people are raising pretty much equalize the argument anyways.

1. Stuff to do nearby: The Bay Area and Portland are basically the same distance away. Same with the coast and the mountains. Yah we have both in Oregon too people. Although those who haven't been to the OR coast won't get why it's a thousand times better than CA. CA has Yosemite, OR has Crater Lake.

2. Airport. Really? Sac has better access than Eugene? I've been to the Sac airport... it's hardly larger than Eug. I'm betting a lot of people fly into the Bay area and drive to Sac.

3. Sac can get hot as hell. Eug has allergies. Although as a Midwest transplant to Eug I can say that typically most people don't get it bad until they have lived here a while. I didn't have any allergies my first summer here... now it's killer.

4. Beer? It's craft beer. Everyone has it these days. But Ninkasi is better.

5. The town itself: I've never been that impressed with Sac entertainment/food/culture considering it's size. For those of you that haven't been back to Eug since 2012 downtown is entirely different. Loads more restaurants and breweries. And really... we are track people... do you really go out to clubs?

6. Hippies/Homeless v. Gangs. Whoever said Eug is just a meth hole apparently doesn't read the news. Do you want to deal with harmless homeless people and transient trust fund kids or gang violence?

(Also whoever said Des Moines is a "city" and apparently Eugene is not is high. Des Moines only has like 30,000 more people than Eug. And is in the middle of freaking corn fields.)

agreed...both cities suck.

I wish they'd put the champs in other cities (I know, I know funding is a big deal).

I think Colorado Springs would be a great central location. Of course all the babies (Drew Wartenburg) would cry about altitude but sprinters and field events would flourish.

Ask the Aggies fans who at the last Trials were told to sit down when cheering on the back stretch

i also heard about the aggies being told to quiet down

and shouldnt we at least wait to see how this meet goes before coming to any conclusions?

i actually just got back from spending my morning watching the shot put qualifying at the capitol building downtown (shot put comp is held at capitol, not at sac state track). it was a cool venue, and despite the fact that it was only prelims, there were tons of people watching the event. there is also a beer garden that hadnt got going yet, and i imagine during finals this afternoon that will be packed. not so much at 10am.

there also will be alcohol allowed at the stadium. so nick symmonds will be happy

Both are good host cities. A bigger issue is that the USATF and NCAA (and others that host meets like CIF in CA), could do a better job of rotating the host cities around to increase exposure of the sport and encourage competition from cities to want to host these meets. If there are too many USATF or NCAA championship meets in Eugene or Sacramento, there's a sense of overexposure and interest/attendance tends to dwindle in subsequent years. Unfortunately, track meets get more attention in smaller market cities. Also the economic benefit of hosting isn't as big of an incentive to larger market cities.

LetsRun.com wrote:

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/24/6509475/good-showing-by-sacramento-could.html#storylink=cpy

We were going to go with a Mary Cain quote but for QOD tmw but will hold off until Thursday. This has to to be it.

John Mansoor said:

“This is a chance for Sacramento to show once again what a great track fan base we have here,” said John Mansoor, the meet’s co-director. “In some respects, we’re in a rivalry with Eugene. We don’t have the Nike money like they do, but we have a better fan base – and Eugene’s is rabid and knowledgeable, but not as many as what we have. We have larger fan-base numbers and better weather. And we’re going to do innovative stuff to add to the experience.”

Do you agree or disagree?

I think it would be great for other cities to help drive the popularity of T&F, but the need to compare everything to Eugene tells you right there where the current heart of T&F is.

Venue: Hayward beats Hornet Football field with track wrapped around it hands down (btw, don't think Hornet configuration even allows for many field events to actually be contested at the main venue & no, copying Des Moines and trying to move events into grocery stores and downtown to distract from the fact that main venue to accommodate the actual events isn't Bonus Points)

Great Pic of Hayward; couldn't find a great Hornet stadium pic that demonstrated T&F at it's best (http://tracktown12.gotracktownusa.com/UserFiles/Pages/3d2cf39a-ef14-46cd-af74-2bbeef801841/56b425f3-fe93-47a5-972b-5a62da8c105c/sample-header.jpg)

Fans/Attendance: Regardless of weather, time of day/night, etc. fans in Eugene stay for ALL T&F EVENTS. Total attendance comparisons between Sac & Eug are essentially the same if you measure by most recent hostings (2004 & 2012), Eug's numbers are actually bigger (When you consider the MSA for Sac is north of 2million people and Eugene-Springfield MSA is 351,000, one can reasonably argue - and Mansoor agrees - that Eugene's fanbase is a much more passionate. Combined with the Oregon's T&F history/legacy and extremely involved Track & Field Club and volunteer participation, Eugene definitely has "knowledgeable" fans on it's side of the ledger). Add more seating to Hayward, which is likely to happen for 2016 Trials and Eugene will top Sac's attendance.

Trials T&F Experience: do you want to sit in a football stadium with fans leaving before distance events?, do you want a suburbia anywhere feel or do you want to experience a community that lives & breathes T&F?

Scenic/Nature Experience: within hours of both venues are great outdoor experiences whether by ocean or in mountains, difference is do you want to fight all kinds of traffic and experience nature as a Disneyland visit (Yosemite in summertime is crazy packed with people/traffic/noise) or a wilderness experience.

Cosmopolitan: Neither is that, you can travel two hours to the enviro/hipster/progressive/quality urban living Portland or two hours to SFO (used to be enviro/hipster/progressive/quality and now offers lots but is Gentrified)

And to all those mentioning random cities (east/west), step right up and show that you can organize and execute a TOP NOTCH T&F championship & the site hosting will be awarded to you (only takes thousands of committed volunteers, community & business members and expert & experienced T&F officials who contribute 100s of 1000s of hours to each event). Again, step right up and show what you HAVE DONE. Empty claims about how great you/your city/venue are will be evaluated by your ACTUAL PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

Eugene hands down! I'm practically indigent, but I have (will) never miss a Trials held there and I have to fly in from N.Y. Having all those fans/athletes/officials/media, etc…all in one cozy town makes for a 24 hour a day experience. Walk down your hotel hallway & there is Ryan & Sara Hall. Down the elevator with John Godina, continental breakfast with the Tyson Gay family, head out to walk to Hayward & there's 800 meter record holder Nicole Teter heading over too. Afterwards grab a bite to eat & there's the whole NBC crew at the table next to you & you end up debating with them about the Tarmoh/Felix debacle. Cornor ice cream place next & there's a sturdy looking athlete with a flower in her hair. The previous day I beat Bridget Franek's mom in an open mile race held at Hayward. Ran a 10K way outside of town, no ride, put my shoes over my shoulder & stuck out my thumb. Picked up immediately. And after the race they made an announcement that someone needed a lift back into Eugene & hands went up everywhere! Can't wait for 2016 and for my next 'fantasy track' experience.