Has Nike's NXN ruined Footlocker National?

I forgot to add, the first change FL should make is working out a system with Nike to enable those athlete screwed by NXN's scheduling to have a chance to make it to Footlocker. Unless there was some reason they felt it didn't work when they tried it in the past, it is Footlocker's obligation to the top individuals to ensure they have a chance to compete on the highest level. Nike has already shown they don't care.

FL is held in a prime market. SD/LA is the World Capital of Track and Field.

NXN is held in nowhere land.

Families come out to FL and stay the whole week. NXN is a chore and only the athlete and maybe one parent comes out for a few days.

Think of FL and NXN like the college football bowl games. there are 30 or so bowl games, 1/2 of the DI-A teams get to play. it's not really a sports league, the league ends after the regular season, then everybody argues who is the real #1, the east coast bias is the wicked evil of the bowls.

Well, we have the December HS Cross meets, now just 2, NXN and FL, I hope to see more, Border Wars too, there's so many HS kids who don;t get to run FL and NXN, there is room for more.

NXN and FL both had good live videos I watched both live.

NXN and FL both had pictures on the web minutes after the races were over, something only the top meets in the U.S. and world pay to do, it's on trackandfieldphoto.com.

In the end, both should remain, because the high school market is so large there is room for two, even four weekend advertising-style h.s. cross meets.

Did the Morons from Utah pick the Footlocker uniforms ? Certainly not the gay NEOCONs.

[quote]Delaware USA wrote:

FL is held in a prime market. SD/LA is the World Capital of Track and Field.

NXN is held in nowhere land.

Man, where does this shit come from? They couldn't even fill the stands at the meet held in Carson this past summer. The whole center of the track and filed BS is just that BS.

NXN is held in Oregon, if you are a distance runner that state is where it's at. There is only one state that should hold the xc Nationals and that State is Oregon.

You are nuts. Web/TV ratings are all that counts. Attendance figures are meaningless to advertisers and media executives.

Franklin Park is hardly a flat course. Ok, there aren't monster climbs, but aside from the start/finish field area, it's all rolling. Bear Cage Hill and The Wilderness. Run a 5M or 10K there and see how "flat" it is.

I dunno but if FLN continues to have there athletes where basketball outfits, I doubt they keep showing up.

Sorry, Franklin Park is a very flat course.

BostonBob wrote:

Franklin Park is hardly a flat course. Ok, there aren't monster climbs, but aside from the start/finish field area, it's all rolling. Bear Cage Hill and The Wilderness. Run a 5M or 10K there and see how "flat" it is.

Again...Why would anyone want to run in the slop in the middle of a horse track for a "National Championship" when they don't run in those conditions all year and San Diego is a wonderful venue...not to mention the Hotel Coronado and the beech. It's like playing the world series in the mud with some "whoop-ty-Doos in between bases...very silly. Why can't Nike stick to the team thing and leave Footlocker as it is. The individual element in Portland was weak...it was a run through for many going to San Diego. Balboa Park is a great course and it was a great individual race.

FL/NXN should be a HS fun run, trade events, advertising events, informercials which belong in a tourist location. It's a reward for high schoolers. Like a senior trip. Think of it like a college bowl game on New Year's Day. It's not a real sports championship, but it means something anyway. Like a Turkey Trot, Christmas 5K, etc. If it were a true athletic championships then we should expect a harsh course and weather like they had at Mombasa or 2008 Club XC.

Portland is too cold for a marketing event from any manufacturer. Trade shows are always held in warm climates in the cold months. Nike has bombed NXN in the media, Footlocker's TV and web numbers are much better.

Sorry, It's xc. The course is not supposed to be some manicured California style xc course. Mud is a reality for most of the country during xc season. That is why at the NCAA level the successful xc runners are nat form california. Balboa is too artificial for a real xc course.

Don't buy the Balboa Park is "running slower" stuff either. How does a course run slower, when it is unchanged over the years? The kids just don't have the balls and strenght to run fast in xc anymore. They can let it fly on the track, but can't handle a hill or a little mud. It's only been 5 years since Solinsky ran 14:41 on that course.

Forget the tv/web numbers, thsi year you had 3 returning champions and a 21 year old illegal immigrant running. That kept the interest up. Next year if FL is still in existance it will be an afterthought.

Those December HS races are not REAL XC, it's like a college football bowl game, or a trade exhibition for Nike and Footlocker. Take it for what it is. Both will exist for many years to come. Advertising is an essential part of business and Footlocker and Nike do those meets for that purpose. NXN should move to a sunnier location to take the boring factor out of their meet. What a dank, dreary, dull place for a trade show.

Delaware USA wrote:

Those December HS races are not REAL XC, it's like a college football bowl game, or a trade exhibition for Nike and Footlocker. Take it for what it is. Both will exist for many years to come. Advertising is an essential part of business and Footlocker and Nike do those meets for that purpose. NXN should move to a sunnier location to take the boring factor out of their meet. What a dank, dreary, dull place for a trade show.

This year it was sunny and beautiful. The view of Mt. Hood was awesome. FL on the other hand was grey and cool.

Portland was in the 20's at night. Not a vacation and trade show city in December for sure. San Diego had T-Shirt weather on Friday night.

Trade show or not, you're out of touch if you think the hundreds that have experienced NXN think it was boring. For those that think the individual element at NXN was weak, you're grasping at straws. The shift to NXN is in motion and the individual swing was greater than expected in the first year. FL had the better field, but not by much and not for long.

And for the course/weather critics, have you been there yet to see it first hand? Yeah, it would be great to have a real hill in there, but the whoopty-doos serve the purpose of providing a different element to the race. Comparing it to having whoopty-doos between 1st and 2nd base in a baseball game is beyond a stretch. From the beginning, the NXN founders said they wanted a "European style" XC course -- mud, hay bales, etc. Yes, this is the good ole US of A, but XC has it's roots in Europe and there's nothing wrong with some slop and obstacles. Some of us old timers can remember a US championships race or two with hay bales.

Delaware USA wrote:

Portland was in the 20's at night. Not a vacation and trade show city in December for sure. San Diego had T-Shirt weather on Friday night.

Was the race at night? Who cares.

This was not a trade show, either is Footlocker, you don't hold a trade show for 40 kids. At least Nike brought in over 400.

Face it, no matter how you paint it. Footlocker is fading away. Portland is more affordable to the families that attend, Nike is more hospitable to the families and coaches who attend. More will want to attend in the future.

NXN and FL are trade show, simple as that. AT both meets they control all the signage, write the announcer's scripts, hire the TV crew, buy a live time slot and repeat time slots on ESPN (aka infomercials), and fly in many website photography artists and website writers. Nike really should move NXN to Phoenix, Orlando, or Texas. The media reports that Footlocker had better ratings than Nike did.

I was at both. NXN is a trade show and so is FL. It's great for HS kids to have so much attention. For business though, trade shows are best held in tourist locations. Then families come out and spend the week. FL is held in So Cal which is the world trendsetter for sports, fashion, and style. NXN is held in a little piss hole town that nobody ever heard of outside of the west coast. It's a marketing bomb for Nike to have NXN in Portland. AT least they should move it to Stanford next year to get the market exposure they are paying for, but I would suggest moving it to the sun belt, where the many mid-west and east folks go and live during the cold months.