Why so many empty seats in Eugene?

My estimate is that most of the events had 2500-3000 fans watching.

there’s too many seats. they had a small boutique stadium that was great for track events and replaced it with a newer, bigger, shinier one that isn’t fit for purpose.

track is a niche sport. no amount of money, promotion or reimagining is going to change that.

There were more people at the Brooklyn mile this past Sunday to watch local runners.

... and yet none of them put together bids.

road race, free to watch, hobby jogger family and friends there to support. in the heart of a big city so not all that difficult to attract mildly interested onlookers for 10 minutes.

at a participant level the sport is thriving but it doesn’t translate to the pro’s or make track meets more interesting to the casual fan.

Accurate.

I didn’t watch it live. I saw highlights on the NBC Olympics IG page. When the runners passed by the stands I couldn’t believe it. Even with the tarped off areas, there were massive sections of empty seats and other areas that were sparsely occupied.

Any capacity for temp stands at Icahn? Maybe get seating in the 8-9 range?

As much as I would like to see it rotated through these facilities+ Eugene, I HATE the idea of anyone having to race in Austin TX in August.

I don't know why it hasn't been back in Indianapolis. I'm biased because I live here, but I also get to see how the city supports events like this.

We've hosted the USA swimming trials for the last couple of Olympics, and it's been incredible. Streets are decorated, the airport is decorated, there are all kinds of fun things set up for fans...

Indy has hosted so many athletic events, championships, etc, it's like second nature. Super Bowl, Final Four, NBA All star weekend, NCAA mens and women's basketball tournaments, Big Ten tournaments, the Indy 500...the list is very long.

The airport is consistently ranked one of the best. There are lodging options for all price ranges. Easy to get around the city. Not super expensive.

Indy is within a day's driving distance of about 50% of the population of the USA.

Plus USATF HQ is there.

There’s only stands on the finish side of the track. So, I guess you could put some on the other side but I don’t think it’s needed. 5K seats is fine.

I would love it to be in Indy. Have spent some time there due to an old job and ive always enjoyed downtown. They have some great restaurants. The area around Butler is nice. Nice park system and running along the river. Drove down to Columbus Indiana for the day and that's a cool small town with the art and sculpture that Cummins funds.

I love the idea of turning the area under the video board from the Bowerman Tower to the final straight into an SRO party zone. Three tiers with tall cocktail tables on the top two tiers and rails with a shelf to place your drinks. Just have controlled access and ID checks for Pre and US Champs/Trials for alcohol service. Make those tix $10 and that section would sell out first. Let those fans onto lanes 8 & 9, behind a rope, longer distance events and maybe as close as lane 3 during the steeple.

The noise and the energy would be awesome!

You can't tell me something like this wouldn't look cool? I'm not a architect (nor a graphic artist..as this was put together in about 5 minutes using overlays) and obviously the old grandstand didn't exactly meet modern ADA requirements, but would something similar to this not look better than massive amounts of open seats in that section?

https://imgur.com/a/MlDpGqP

Indy would be great, but if it makes a lot of sense, there's no way USATF will even consider it.

I agree with you on most points, but will add some notes

Born and raised in Eugene and here are the reasons why I think there were - and will continue to be - so many empty seats: Born and raised farther up I5
1) As many have stated repeatedly, Eugene is relatively tough to get to and not cheap to get to Football game day has a ton of people making days trips to Corvallis and Eugene, this is more of the national "branding" of our sport which has been covered on MANY other threads.
2) Despite efforts by the CoC, hotels continue to jack up prices and require several night minimums for track events and football games I work hotel adjacent, and they charge what the market will bear. People loudly complain about egg prices, but are largely mum to $300 per night hotel rooms at 3 star hotels. Our populace is dumb
3) Ticket prices - I went Saturday and Sunday but wasn’t willing to pay $35 GA for Thursday’s 10Ks (essentially) for example Social scientist flunkies should be helping to determine ticket prices, not marketing, business and finance flunkies
4) Eugene fatigue is real, even for diehard TrackTownies National marketing of the sport, do something fun! One year didn't they have a bunch of open heats of the mile at the trial for the general citizen fan. Have something like 60+ year olds like myself can throw down an 8:30 mile
5) The new stadium was built for Worlds - many of us said at the time “we’ll never see Hayward full again” - even though Pre was “sold out”, there were many visible empty seats Don't treat the stadium like a shrine, but a place where dreams can come true

1- flights are expensive to fly across the entire country; rent a car

2-hotel prices, food prices

3-the spirit of the stadium is not what the old stadium held.

4-running distance races in full sun, middle of the day with temps in 80°s for fans and athletes, does UO/nike not have lights so that these high profile runners could run in the evening?

5-easier to watch on YouTube and peacock instead of the hassle of the above 4.

PK built it and no one came.

Given mtsac made the second biggest investment in track in the last decade and had the meeting taken from them why would anyone invest in the facilities?

anyone know mtsac got the money for the upgrade?