Agree. Been there, done it. I was the guy as an athlete that made sure I was at an event early enough not to miss a prelim because there was a great athlete competing while my teammates back at the hotel were still sleeping. I was the coach that arrived earliest and left latest because I honored the process of being ready whether it was attending or hosting meets. I created experiences for others that greatly appreciated that it was different, better than most both for athletes, coaches AND spectators. It was always in the details.
But that is like saying, "the world's problems will be solved if everyone was just SUPER dedicated and motivated." Yet that is not how the world works.
We, as a culture, are on average just AVERAGE. Track has to work in the culture that really exists in America, not in a world where people "show up early and stay late to watch a prelim." That does not scale. Good for you for being that person. We need a sport that is watchable for normal people like our friends and kids.
Ok,but you're saying people have the equivalent attention span and I dont agree with that at all. There is a place for those 8 hour meets. People can choose to come and go as they like. Yes, their is a need for relay meets that used to be fun like Drake, Penn, Texas, Kansas....load up team events. There is a place for quality, 8 team, 2 entries/1 relay invotational meets and of course your scored conference and national meets. But like the earlier poster mentioned, why attend if you can stream it and get other work done at little to no expense. Personally, I attend big meets of significance and titles or national team qualifying. Might attend a state hs meet or 2 but dont feel compelled to spend the whole day.
There's plenty of options to attract people to meets. But I contend that the problem mostly lies with attention spans, convenience, trading live atmosphere experience for edited reply and strictly data. The biggest effort to survive the sport is always going to be parents who participated and coaches who can teach beyond their events such as history, performance, paying it forward. Im sitting in an empty Hayward Field (early) explaining the nuances of the LJ and she appreciates it but still not too into it because it's not the same atmosphere as NCAAs, OT or Worlds. It's just not everyone's cup of tea.
Vin Lananna must practically be exhaling lies. I swear he's up to his eyeballs in BS 24/7, can't tell the difference between fact and fiction. This bro's so good at lying, hell, I bet he even lies in his sleep. Nothing that comes out of his mouth is to be trusted.
BU could easily have a 1 hour “hot window” and sell marked up tickets, but instead WR attempts get the same treatment as a 17 minute 5k.
Track doesn’t deserve fans if the “best” races are at meets with endless heats.
Did you think through the logistics of this? What would you do? Kick out all the athletes/spectators who didn’t pay for the hour? Have the hour at the beginning (9am)? Have it at the end (force everybody out). Stupid nonworkable idea
i live near boston, so have brought my son to two events at the new balance indoor track—last year’s ncaa championships and the new balance grand prix. the ncaa champs was really great. it helps that it’s a nice venue and lots of restaurants close-by if you want to make a night of it.
p.s. I want to be clear, by asking if people go to track meets, I wasn't trying to be judgmental. I am just genuinely curious if people just go to meets to watch...
The last time I seriously considered going to a track meet that wasn't for me or a family member was when I lived in Louisiana and Mondo Duplantis was competing in his last state championship meet in Baton Rouge.
I didn't go. I had young kids and decided it was too big a hastle for too little payoff.
I now live in Utah have similar thoughts about watching Jane Hedengren. Ultimately I'm coming to the same conclusion.
"When was the last time you went to a track meet that you (or one of your children) were not running in?"
Feb 2025. I go to several a year - HS, collegiate, and professional. I consider myself a die hard fan and I agree with Lananna. Even I do not want to watch a 9-day track meet, and I can watch a lot of track.
Went to the Desert Heat event in Tucson two weeks ago. Went to two of the NAU indoor meets this winter. I enjoy going to track meets even though I don't really know anyone involved. I see the kids around campus and town and they seem like wonderful members of the community so I enjoy supporting them. No different than with basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, etc. Track meets are longer for sure but I always eat a bunch of edibles and bring a book. Good time
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BU could easily have a 1 hour “hot window” and sell marked up tickets, but instead WR attempts get the same treatment as a 17 minute 5k.
Track doesn’t deserve fans if the “best” races are at meets with endless heats.
Did you think through the logistics of this? What would you do? Kick out all the athletes/spectators who didn’t pay for the hour? Have the hour at the beginning (9am)? Have it at the end (force everybody out). Stupid nonworkable idea
Then track has to decide if it is for participants or spectators. Looks like at least at the college level they've decided it's for participants.
And that's fine, and probably as it should be. But we all need to stop the outrage about, "WHERE ARE THE FANS?!?!?!". The sport made it's choice.
I’m not sure which is the worst spectator sport in the NCAA, the regular track season or the regular XC season. would it kill anyone to have smaller XC meets where a spectator might have some idea who is winning without chips and mats? agree with above poster - NCAA track is for athletes and more importantly coaches. aside from conference, the most fun I’ve had a meet as an athlete was an in conference dual against a rival. that meet is long gone.
I’m not sure which is the worst spectator sport in the NCAA, the regular track season or the regular XC season. would it kill anyone to have smaller XC meets where a spectator might have some idea who is winning without chips and mats? agree with above poster - NCAA track is for athletes and more importantly coaches. aside from conference, the most fun I’ve had a meet as an athlete was an in conference dual against a rival. that meet is long gone.
I agree completely. I spent eight years watching my sons run multi team meets where their teams weren't going to win or place well, where running well versus running poorly might be the difference between an eighth place finish and an eleventh place one and wondered how much incentive there is in those circumstances to push hard when you're really hurting. But in the dual and tri meets I ran, where doing that could mean the difference between a win and a loss there was lots of incentive. And it was a great feeling to pull an upset and win a meet you figured not to win beforehand.
I don't think the sport should be meant to please fans. That's how we get stupid gimmicks like mixed relays. Yes find ways to make the sport great, but if you know track and field, you know it's long.
I do think fixes need to be made though, maybe smaller invites so a whole team goes so you don't have three separate travel routines in a weekend. 5-Team or 8-Team meets will do the trick.
The complainers want to bring back tug of war, sack races and maybe some ancient Roman events like tying some captured slaves ir Christians to poles for javelin targets.
No attention spans. Too many video games and porn sites.
Ran in the Big East in the early 1980s. We ran a 2-3 cc meet with 2-10 teams. Got some good competition - remember running at Darthmouth with a number of New England's best teams. Vin's team took 1-3 and 20 seconds or so later we took 4-6. I took more out of that placing than if we went halfway across the country and ran a big invite. Added plus was running against a number of guys you ran against since high school. We ran 1 too many cc meets. Should have run only BigEast and taken a week off for the qualifier at Lehigh (but we sandwiched the New England meet between those races to give us 3 big races in a row. Beauty of that schedule is friends, girlfriends and parents could come to those meets and only the Lehigh trip required hotel rooms. Indoor track we had 2-3 dual-quad meets against New England, ny and nj schools. Was able to win one 3000 race my senior year (against a guy who was in the lead pack in the LA Olympic marathon). Parents, girlfriend, and friends were able to see our races and only weekend trip was Big East in syarcuse. Just saw the results to the Big East outdoor meet and our men's and women's team both won. Also noticed that our team with a lower quality meet schedule would have killed todays champs with our times/distances without super shoes and todays improved training methods and nutrition. I likely had much more fun than most d1 athletes today and our travel budget was a fraction of today's budget. Schoils should go to a more regional focus and run hard in their conference meets and last chance meet(s) if needed.
Vin Lananna must practically be exhaling lies. I swear he's up to his eyeballs in BS 24/7, can't tell the difference between fact and fiction. This bro's so good at lying, hell, I bet he even lies in his sleep. Nothing that comes out of his mouth is to be trusted.
I know you know him. That man is like a chewed-up, spit out piece of gum. Sticks to everything, leaves a mess, but definitely doesn't taste as good as it looks. Just like this damn piece of gum, he's everywhere, messing with everything he touches. If you know Vin , then you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Okay, this man was the most influential person for over a decade at Oregon, now at another big school, chair of USATF, and he is complaining?
Especially in Eugene he could have set the tone with having dual meets, making them important (like back in the old days), but no, Oregon has a few invites, travel across the country to chase qualifying times like the rest, and doesn't bring any relateable collegiate meets to their stadiums except for the NCAA's and a conference meet now and then.
As long as getting fast times is the most important to get into regionals or nationals nothing will change.
Vin is so out of touch. He has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s always saying the sport he had a hand in building has fallen apart. No one wants to see dual meets. And he needs to stop contacting high school athletes before they’re eligible to talk. Guy hangs around lobbies at high school invites trying to recruit.