NBC is a $BILLION internet streaming behemoth yet has offered no payments to elites for the live broadcast, nor residual payments for later broadcasts.
USATF has unpaid wealthy groupies obtain quotes, videos and photos yet offers elites no fees, nor royalties for use.
You get the money by developing a product that has value. USATF and our athletes who don't compete (really I blame the coaches) have created a situation where they have to be happy that the TV stations are letting them have air time rather than getting TV stations compete to be allowed to have the event like real sports with real fan bases.
To create value they have to start racing and create a story and something to sell so more people want to watch. Who can get behind athletes that never race? Already nobody wants to see them except for a few die hard fans and now even their die hard fans don't want to see them because we don't have a story to follow and don't like them or their coaches.
The narrative of "I never race but then show up at WC or Olympics and set an astonishing WR" is the story of a doped athlete like Rashid "too juiced to lose" Ramzi. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in watching unbelievable superhero movies. I like watching stories about real people. A real athlete has ups and downs throughout a season and then shows up like a champion when it counts.
Mu had a great narrative in 2021 when she was mostly a superstar but with an unexpected loss or two, then dominated the Olympics and came off as an intelligent, enthusiastic fresh young talent in interviews. At the end of the season I couldn't wait to tune in for more. Now we never see her, she doesn't race, and when she gives an interview she doesn't really like track and wants to be a model. So now, as a track fan, I'm totally not interested in her story. She went from being my favorite athlete in 2021 to being someone I don't really like. I can't relate to someone who looks like they're ready to squander their talent. It's her life of course but I'm just saying this is what gets me to turn the TV off.
Elites are in their 20s. At the age where they need money to build a life. They aren't at the financial level where they have options. They are in graduate school, block chain boot camps, real estate school, etc.
Sponsors have revenue in the $B and won't pay professional money to our pros.
TV has $B and won't pay professional money to our pro
The media are 100% wannabes, Free alumni. Free high school coaches. Free college interns, Low paid copy editors and janitors at small town newspapers who pose as photographers. .
The track crews are unpaid volunteers who live at homeless shelters.
PS. At a minimum, given how many Salazar drug related questions we've given people like Rupp over the year, we should ask them if they were aware of the accusations in the past and if it concerned them. The answer we'd likely get is pretty easy. When I asked that question of a young NCAA star looking at the NOP a few years back, the answer I got was simple. "No it didn't really concern me. I know I'd never dope. It's one of the top groups in the world and I want to be a part of it." Kind of like how David Torrence went to Aden. And when he saw something he didn't like, he came home.
It's not just Bailey's accusations, remember Darrell Robinson too? I always found it strange that in America, the land of libels & suing, Kersee (& Flo Jo & JJK) never sued Robinson for libel (Lewis did..) considering he directly accused Kersee of giving him steroids when he trained under him, & that he sold HGH to Flo Jo. He was of course painted as a nut-case, and was ostracized from the sport. But that was two separate people who directly accused Kersee of being a dope coach.
Personally, once a dope coach, always a dope coach. It may not be the HGH, oxandrolone & metadienone Robinson says it was back in the 80's, but it will be micro dosing at a finite level.
PS. At a minimum, given how many Salazar drug related questions we've given people like Rupp over the year, we should ask them if they were aware of the accusations in the past and if it concerned them. The answer we'd likely get is pretty easy. When I asked that question of a young NCAA star looking at the NOP a few years back, the answer I got was simple. "No it didn't really concern me. I know I'd never dope. It's one of the top groups in the world and I want to be a part of it." Kind of like how David Torrence went to Aden. And when he saw something he didn't like, he came home.
It was Angela Taylor Issajenko who gave the most damning interviews in the Dubin inquiry. They’re available online, so we can and should learn more about he 80s. So, we know from GDR stasi documents they only used anbabolics whilst the USA and Canada athletes added HGH ie uber doped. Before and after pics of the most famous athletes of some coaches may even indicate to a trained eye that at a certain point in their career they either developed acromegaly or used hgh during the off season months, followed by massive improvements over the next summer
PS. At a minimum, given how many Salazar drug related questions we've given people like Rupp over the year, we should ask them if they were aware of the accusations in the past and if it concerned them. The answer we'd likely get is pretty easy. When I asked that question of a young NCAA star looking at the NOP a few years back, the answer I got was simple. "No it didn't really concern me. I know I'd never dope. It's one of the top groups in the world and I want to be a part of it." Kind of like how David Torrence went to Aden. And when he saw something he didn't like, he came home.
It was Angela Taylor Issajenko who gave the most damning interviews in the Dubin inquiry. They’re available online, so we can and should learn more about he 80s. So, we know from GDR stasi documents they only used anbabolics whilst the USA and Canada athletes added HGH ie uber doped. Before and after pics of the most famous athletes of some coaches may even indicate to a trained eye that at a certain point in their career they either developed acromegaly or used hgh during the off season months, followed by massive improvements over the next summer
Hence Cruz's very harsh description of JJK in 88...his wording was unnecessary, but we get the point he was making...
The only way to get athletes to regularly compete is to follow the tennis model. If you want to play the majors in tennis, you need to compete on the circuit to get a good enough ranking.
Track needs to adopt a version of that. Make it a rule that athletes have to have a regular season if they want to run at Worlds and the Olympics. Their entire value is predicated on their participation at those two events, if they don't compete at Worlds and Olympics, they won't have contracts or endorsements. World Athletics needs to restrict access to those big events to athletes who have competed regularly.
I like this idea, and I think there’s something to this (tho I think it would be tricky for smaller nations/from countries with fewer resources to send their athletes around to compete.)
That's a good point, but we already see athletes from poorer countries like Burundi and Ethiopia compete frequently. It becomes a matter of balancing the number of events required with the resources available to athletes. The advantage would be that with more competitive events, more money should flow to athletes to at least fund travel costs.
What we would probably need is more meets given gold and silver status so that it is fairer to athletes lower on the pecking order. But for the top 20 athletes in each event, competition requirements should not be a problem.
I'm over the BS. Kersee has absolutely no respect for the fans or the sport. All he cares about is his legacy and his athletes winning gold medals.
I wonder how much, as fans, we inadvertently contribute to coaches and athletes thinking that the world championships and Olympics are the only events that matter. Much of our discourse for evaluating an athlete’s success centers on their medal count.
Look at Grant Fisher. He had a fantastic season last year, yet many people view it as a disappointment and/or dismiss him as a time trial guy because he didn’t win a medal. We put a lot of pressure on our best athletes to win medals, so we can’t be too surprised that coaches and athletes prioritize that over everything else.
I wonder how much, as fans, we inadvertently contribute to coaches and athletes thinking that the world championships and Olympics are the only events that matter. Much of our discourse for evaluating an athlete’s success centers on their medal count.
Look at Grant Fisher. He had a fantastic season last year, yet many people view it as a disappointment and/or dismiss him as a time trial guy because he didn’t win a medal. We put a lot of pressure on our best athletes to win medals, so we can’t be too surprised that coaches and athletes prioritize that over everything else.
I sincerely doubt she ever runs 48 flat let alone low 47s. Do you realize that a woman has not broken 48 in 35 years and she was doped to the gills? Aside from that, everyone has an off day and if you only run 3 races you are leaving it to chance that something will go wrong and will be unlikely to reach your potential on any given day. Some people on this board are clueless. Aside from that, the job of a professional is to entertain spectators and display your brand if you are a no show, you are not doing your job.
To echo some other folks on here, I will no longer be rooting for Mu. Shame, really - she grew up in Trenton, which is right around the corner from me, with an incredible personal story - first generation American from immigrant parents who escaped violence in their home country, and worked her butt off to become one of the best 800m runners in history. I know no one cares if some rando dude on the Internet is disillusioned with her, but I think a lot of people think similarly to me - it’s a slap in the face to the sport that she’s probably going to race 2x this year.
We've needed well known, accomplished Television CEOs for as long as i've been in the sport.
Twitter has just hired Linda Yaccarino from NBC/Universal to cure their symptoms.
The amatuer CEOs at World Athletics, Diamond League, NCAA T&F/XC, and USATF LDR/HP have failed miserably.
The failed high school meet model of World Athletics, NCAA T&F/XC, USATF LDR/HP has ruined opportunities to each elite make $Millions/year versus only just $Thousands/year.
We've needed well known, accomplished Television CEOs for as long as i've been in the sport.
Twitter has just hired Linda Yaccarino from NBC/Universal to cure their symptoms.
The amatuer CEOs at World Athletics, Diamond League, NCAA T&F/XC, and USATF LDR/HP have failed miserably.
The failed high school meet model of World Athletics, NCAA T&F/XC, USATF LDR/HP has ruined opportunities to each elite make $Millions/year versus only just $Thousands/year.
Its depressing to see, these former athletes turned CEOs have been an abject failure. Horse racing was a $4 billion business in the US last year, why can't track reach some fraction of that? We need serious people in charge and a centralized competition structure where the best athletes compete against each other repeatedly. Make it like other sports where you need to compete in the regular season to make it to the playoffs, Im tired of seeing our stars race twice a year and then go into hiding.
We've needed well known, accomplished Television CEOs for as long as i've been in the sport.
Twitter has just hired Linda Yaccarino from NBC/Universal to cure their symptoms.
The amatuer CEOs at World Athletics, Diamond League, NCAA T&F/XC, and USATF LDR/HP have failed miserably.
The failed high school meet model of World Athletics, NCAA T&F/XC, USATF LDR/HP has ruined opportunities to each elite make $Millions/year versus only just $Thousands/year.
Its depressing to see, these former athletes turned CEOs have been an abject failure. Horse racing was a $4 billion business in the US last year, why can't track reach some fraction of that? We need serious people in charge and a centralized competition structure where the best athletes compete against each other repeatedly. Make it like other sports where you need to compete in the regular season to make it to the playoffs, Im tired of seeing our stars race twice a year and then go into hiding.
We need great match ups to make this sport popular. I agree!
Its interesting seeing than an entire meet, in a major city, was built on the attendence of 2 specific athletes.
Contrast that with Night of the 10k PBs this weekend - start lists were announced a week or two ago but the vast majority of spectators were going because of the event, with no regard for who's actually lining up. I have friends that had the weekend planned out last year, well before anyone was announced to be taking part. The event is bigger than any one athlete taking part.
Building events around specific athletes seems unwise given the direction Boxing/MMA/prize fighting has gone. Without adequate protections in place you end up with managers/agents/coaches pulling strings and constant disapointment and confusion for fans.
Its interesting seeing than an entire meet, in a major city, was built on the attendence of 2 specific athletes.
Not true. The LA meet was announced months ago, but Sydney's participation was only announced a few weeks ago. And Athing was never announced as being part of the meet.
I am getting the sense from their comments and lack of racing that they are two prodigies who are burned out from the pressure and stress of competition and don't want to do it anymore. Mu has been going hard since an early age in youth track, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is at the very height of her abilities and has brought the 400mH to the top level of sport but doesn't like to compete. So, I'm afraid we're not going to get much more from them until they get through this, if at all. I still think that Venus and Serena are useful comparisons here. They were both trying to do other things, designing, modeling, and not competing too much in their early 20s, suffering from burnout, but lightening their schedules ultimately brought the fire back and allowed them to have almost unprecedent career longevity.
You get the money by developing a product that has value. USATF and our athletes who don't compete (really I blame the coaches) have created a situation where they have to be happy that the TV stations are letting them have air time rather than getting TV stations compete to be allowed to have the event like real sports with real fan bases.
To create value they have to start racing and create a story and something to sell so more people want to watch. Who can get behind athletes that never race? Already nobody wants to see them except for a few die hard fans and now even their die hard fans don't want to see them because we don't have a story to follow and don't like them or their coaches.
The narrative of "I never race but then show up at WC or Olympics and set an astonishing WR" is the story of a doped athlete like Rashid "too juiced to lose" Ramzi. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in watching unbelievable superhero movies. I like watching stories about real people. A real athlete has ups and downs throughout a season and then shows up like a champion when it counts.
Mu had a great narrative in 2021 when she was mostly a superstar but with an unexpected loss or two, then dominated the Olympics and came off as an intelligent, enthusiastic fresh young talent in interviews. At the end of the season I couldn't wait to tune in for more. Now we never see her, she doesn't race, and when she gives an interview she doesn't really like track and wants to be a model. So now, as a track fan, I'm totally not interested in her story. She went from being my favorite athlete in 2021 to being someone I don't really like. I can't relate to someone who looks like they're ready to squander their talent. It's her life of course but I'm just saying this is what gets me to turn the TV off.
Elites are in their 20s. At the age where they need money to build a life. They aren't at the financial level where they have options. They are in graduate school, block chain boot camps, real estate school, etc.
Sponsors have revenue in the $B and won't pay professional money to our pros.
TV has $B and won't pay professional money to our pro
The media are 100% wannabes, Free alumni. Free high school coaches. Free college interns, Low paid copy editors and janitors at small town newspapers who pose as photographers. .
The track crews are unpaid volunteers who live at homeless shelters.
What do you expect when the athletes themselves treat their profession like something annoying that they do on the side while they are waiting for their next modeling opportunity?