Famed Millrose Games May Leaven Garden

that the Armory did not pay a single penny for the rights to the meet. The way it was given to them would have caused a huge conflict of interest for any ethical organization.

The Schmertz family made it a labor of love. Howard must be very sad.

A lot of you must not have been at the Garden for the Millrose Games this winter. It was perhaps the worst track meet I've ever attended. Very few elite running events at all, and very few of those actually "elite."

In the Gospel of Luke, the parable is as follows:

And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

– Luke 13:20-21, KJV

It takes effort to have a good meet at that level and when the people who are managing the event want to see it crash for their own personal gain the meet will crash. This was planned for the past 6-8 years and the plan was executed almost perfectly. What comes around goes around and it will go around.

When the Armory made the deal with USATF to take over Millrose there was a hand shake agreement they would not move the meet out of the Garden, two years then moved it. They then immediately trademarked it to stop USATF from taking it back. The leadership at USATF at the time didn’t understand what was happening and didn’t stop the trademark, which they could have.

The last year it was at the Garden they sold over 12,000 tickets. The current meet would struggle to sell tickets at the Armory if it was just a professional meet. There has to be like a 1000 non professional athletes participate which probably average 2 spectators/parents per athlete. Between the athletes and those people, it probably accounted for 75% of the Armory’s capacity.

They had an amazing meet this year but it doesn’t have the magic of the Garden. The Garden was the indoor version of Hayward field. The equivalent would be to move the Prefontaine Classic to Oregon State.

Yes, but look at all the posts about these fast times. You think Nuguse and Fisher set world records in the Garden? You think Martin runs that time on a small weird shaped track? Athletes, sponsors, and fans want fast times.

Huh?? Do tell.....

The meet wasn't about fast times it was about the best in the world facing off and packing the most famous arena in the World. It was the showcase of track & field and had a history of over 100 years of meet, until it was yanked out. It was a privilege and honor to run there and attend a meet. Now it's just another day at the Armory.

Also, the shape wasn't weird it was just 160m oval instead of 200m.

I loved Millrose at the garden. I know what the meet was. I wasn't good enough to run there but I attended Millrose and other meets when they were at the Garden or NJ. I know it was about man vs man competition. My belief is that today's runners want fast times and will time trial to qualify for post season meets.

It was a weird shape with long straights, tough banks, and few lanes. In it's last few years I used to buy the first two rows of section 426 or 428, I can't remember which, and take my team. The management would offer these tickets to teams and coaches at the armory for $5. Still not too many coaches took advantage of this and it wasn't close to being filled.

Sorry 'Coach', not sure what happened there ^ but as you noted, the last 5 or more years, the place was an echo chamber.

I worked at the Millrose Games in MSG for over 30 years in various roles including statistician, technical director, assistant meet director and meet director. Someday I will write a book.

Exactly. Back in the Garden, Millrose was considered a premier track meet with many non runners attending to see the best of the best competing. It had cache, it was advertised everywhere in NYC and everyone wanted to be there. The ticket sales in the last year of 12,000 prove it. Now you can't pay me to go to the Armory to see that same meet. It's lost its luster, just another indoor track meet. At ridiculous prices BTW. I don't need to listen to screaming high school kids, and feel claustrophobic in that tiny space just to watch a few events that interest me. Millrose is not what it used to be for sure.

Millrose at the Armory is a great 2-3 hour meet that is dragged out for 6+ hours. The first 3 hours of the meet should really be cut out or moved to the day before and keep the main program to a short exciting one.

The reply is those events in the first 3 hours are needed to sell seats. If you are ever in the building during those early events the place is pretty much empty. If the meet (or any meet) needs to depend on masters DMR or youth 60m to fill seats there is a bigger problem with the sport