Sprinters do great in heat and humidity, but not the sort of heat you get in Vegas during the summer. No one can operate in that sort of heat. Vegas, does have the hotel accommodation infrastructure to support the influx, but the stadium would have to be built in walking distance of the strip or the city would have to develop additional mass transportation. It would definitely be a better location than Eugene.
Las Vegas is the best place. Doha has an outdoor stadium with A/C at field level that works very well in 50 degree weather.
Yes, I attended Worlds in Doha in 2019 in that air conditioned stadium. If Vegas would build the stadium with AC, that could work. I go to Vegas every year for a week for a work conference; while it's not my favourite place to visit, and I am in and out, getting there is not that difficult and it certainly has enough hotel rooms and events to make a visit bearable.
I will second Las Vegas. This time of year it's quite hot, but the weather is reliable. Sprinters do well in the heat, right? Wind is pretty negligible in June/July. It sucks for distance runners...could a large retractable roof stadium be built, hold the distance events in the morning with the roof closed, then open the roof for the sprints?
Las Vegas really can't be beat for accessibility and post meet entertainment options. A lot of fans might come and never end up making it to the meet, so there's that...
Sprinters do great in heat and humidity, but not the sort of heat you get in Vegas during the summer. No one can operate in that sort of heat. Vegas, does have the hotel accommodation infrastructure to support the influx, but the stadium would have to be built in walking distance of the strip or the city would have to develop additional mass transportation. It would definitely be a better location than Eugene.
We have NFL, NHL, NASCAR in Vegas so public transportation to the meet is not a problem because we already know how to do it.
Even without AC, the sprints could be done in the evening when the sun is not overhead. 90 degrees is ok here if you're not getting direct sun
If you had access to tons of cash and were tasked to put in a Hayward-esque track-only stadium anywhere in the US, where would you put it? Ideally, this would be a place with decent weather, a major airport, abundant hotels, fun nightlife, and a large population of sports enthusiasts.
Just look at the Las Vegas Raiders. The team sucks and yet that stadium is packed! Many come to see the opposing team. The same can happen with track!
If you had access to tons of cash and were tasked to put in a Hayward-esque track-only stadium anywhere in the US, where would you put it? Ideally, this would be a place with decent weather, a major airport, abundant hotels, fun nightlife, and a large population of sports enthusiasts.
Just look at the Las Vegas Raiders. The team sucks and yet that stadium is packed! Many come to see the opposing team. The same can happen with track!
1st you don't want anything like the pathetic dump at Hayward. lines at the men's toilets when the stadium only has a few thousand fans. no underground parking. dead town. no publc bus to the airport. nothing to do. same Nike lies, propaganda, and fairy tales told over and over again by amateur unpaid stadium announcers. Etc.
2nd Las Vegas is L.A. on the cheap and is doable. Allegiant only cost $2B while So Fi $10B. The NBA expansion stadium should cost $1B while Intuit Dome $6B.
A purpose built track stadium seems unlikely. They should just build a track into a football or soccer stadium.
Correct but there is no vision from USATF.
How expensive would it be to make a boards type track that could be put in an stadium and then taken out and used in a different stadium 4 years later?
I was told that Mark Cuban - former owner of the Mavericks - looked into building a track into like NFL stadiums as he was thinking kind of like having a super DL final.
I'd choose Miami for the track stadium. It ticks all the boxes: great weather, major airport access, lots of hotels, vibrant nightlife, and a huge sports-loving community.
The trouble that track has is that the only fans willing to fly to a track meet are die-hards, and there just aren't many of them. So you need to build your stadium somewhere in easy driving distance from the largest possible number of people (likely why Boston worked for indoors-you're only a few hour's drive from tens of millions of people). Put it somewhere on the northeast corridor with affordable land, a big airport, good transit, and hotels. Philadelphia fits the bill in my mind-plus it's a sports crazed town.
- They have a HUGE running base of supporters. Just ask Atlanta Track Club. - They have the largest 10k road race in the world. - Their MLS team had the highest 2023 average attendance numbers (47,526). Soccer fans are patient. You need patience to watch Track&Field.
I've been telling y'all that the Southeast is the mecca for track. Ain't nobody wanna listen. Sure it's hot has hell but that doesn't stop anyone from attending MLS games.
Nashville…centrally located, other attractions, and it’s a small enough city that a big track meet in town moves the needle (it doesn’t in nyc, for example, it’s too big), but large enough that you aren’t just counting on out of towners coming through
A purpose built track stadium seems unlikely. They should just build a track into a football or soccer stadium.
Correct but there is no vision from USATF.
How expensive would it be to make a boards type track that could be put in an stadium and then taken out and used in a different stadium 4 years later?
I was told that Mark Cuban - former owner of the Mavericks - looked into building a track into like NFL stadiums as he was thinking kind of like having a super DL final.
If someone could design a world class 400 metre track that can fit in an NFL or a college stadium, and find somewhere in America to store it, that would be the move!
Obviously, X amount of rows of stands would have to be moved/replaced to make it work. If I recall, isn't that the plan for the LA Coliseum for 2028?
Boston and Chicago are by far the top two. Midwest (southern michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, indiana, Ohio) have large track clubs at all levels. And Boston area is similar with New Jersey and DC clubs close to it.
If you want good summer weather, the best option is San Diego. Lots of tourist attractions and plenty of sports fans. San Diego is close to the greater LA area so plenty of fans could drive down for meets. Socal is also full of "fitness freaks" who could probably be converted to track fans. The weather here is incomparably mild compared to anywhere else in the US considering the humidity and altitude. It is halfway through June and we still haven't hit 80 degrees. The high today is 72 with a low of 58. It is exceedingly rare that rain causes any problems for the simple fact that we don't have much rain at all.
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