A great stadium and well-run track meets for sure, but everything else is overpriced and underwhelmed. Eugene is good for some meets, but LA, Philly, NY and Atlanta should be considered for some.
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It is on the NCAA schools to provide fans. There was probably 90 schools at the meet. Where are their fans? Unless you are a track fan the idea of sitting in a stadium for eight hours would be painful. Sadly, 9000 is a pretty good number these days at a track meet.
P.S. I have a Sports Illustrated from 1960 with Jim Beatty on the cover. 90k fans in the stadium at Palo Alto. Times change.
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Vinpetrol wrote:
LA? Drake stadium at UCLA or the colliseum once they have built the track there?
Why reinvent the wheel? Why wait? Mt. SAC’s Hilmer Lodge is already built. It is waiting and ready. It’s beautiful. It holds 10,000 spectators and can expand to hold 20,000.
We’d have to expect Nike to work hard to divert traffic to Oregon, right? Heck, even LRC calls the Division I National Championship Meet “Eugene” for short, as in, “The road to Eugene,” and “Ticket punched to Eugene.” Makes the D1 Nationals site seem permanently set. Now that’s marketing.
Nike wants control of those elite and junior elite meets, any World Athletics competitions, anything with a national or world audience. Not a monopoly though, nope, no way.
How about the college coaches’ organization USTFCCCA and its ubiquitous pitbull, Sam? (Who pays Sam? I am genuinely asking. Who appointed him CEO? Also genuinely asking.) Here is Nike’s response to complaints about attendance, complete with a photo showing… the Nike logo on those pink shoes! and a recognizable media tower! A picture is worth a thousand words. This meet was worth 1.7 million viewers.
You can’t fault a coyote for eating a house cat, it’s just its nature. I can’t fault mighty Nike for pursuing full market control. What corporation is an ethical charity?
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I remember when Duke's track was in Wallace Wade Stadium.
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Old Big East wrote:
I remember when Duke's track was in Wallace Wade Stadium.
There was a time that tracks were in their school's football stadium. I raced in Beaver Stadium at Penn State a couple times. Maryland's track was in Byrd Stadium. They actually had one of the US/USSR dual meets there. Pitt's track was in Pitt Stadium.
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But...but...football needs more season ticket holder seats! That dumb track doesn't produce revenue.
Most of you already know this but, USC will remove the track right after the 2028 Games because that allows them to add sellable seats for Almighty King Football.
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Send NCAAs to Villanova. 12,500 seat stadium, tons of hotels in the area, ample parking, rich history of track and field, and there is (assuming it is still there) an indoor track/warm up area in the Pavillion (right next to the stadium). There's roughly 5.8 million residing in the Philadelphia region and about 50 million reside between DC and Boston.
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gwalkerruns wrote:
It is on the NCAA schools to provide fans. There was probably 90 schools at the meet. Where are their fans? Unless you are a track fan the idea of sitting in a stadium for eight hours would be painful. Sadly, 9000 is a pretty good number these days at a track meet.
P.S. I have a Sports Illustrated from 1960 with Jim Beatty on the cover. 90k fans in the stadium at Palo Alto. Times change.
The vast majority of athletes and schools that qualified for outdoor NCAAs (across ALL events) this year were from the sun belt, from California to Georgia. Eugene couldn't have been less convenient for the vast majority of people involved short of having the NCAA championships in Maine.
It wasn't that long ago that Oregon had a dominant Track and Field team that would have made perfect sense to have them to host the NCAAs but Nike shot itself in the foot when they ran Robert Johnson out of town and installed Schumacher as head coach. Why would any locals go watch a championship meet their own team isn't even participating in? The smart play is to have a school host NCAAs that has some athletes competing and is maybe at least in the mix for a team title, then you might get some locals to show up to watch.
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What were the attendance numbers in Austin?
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NERunner03533 wrote:
anacondarunner wrote:
After the dreadful attendance at NCAAs this past weekend, Eugene can no longer call itself TrackTown USA. It’s time to stop hosting NCAAs and USAs there every year. Austin was a way better atmosphere for NCAAs last year—the stands were packed for both the men’s and women’s finals. The attendance in Eugene was embarrassing and made the national championships feel like a low-key dual meet.
What were the attendance #'s in Texas & how does 9.5k/day hold up to what the meet pulled at the old Hayward Field? The stadium is awesome but it's just way too big now for anything outside of a global championship. Too big for Pre. Too big for NCAAs. The old stadium would've been rocking with 9.5k each day. I don't get taking shots at the attendance when you're at least getting some casual fans in a place like Oregon.
This year's Pre meet was 80-85% capacity. It is just fine for Pre. Nike needs to make sure that it attracts its best runners to provide a spectacle.
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NCAA should draw the same level of attendance as the football and basketball championships. That it hasn't shows how bad they are at marketing. Anything less than 50,000 is a failure.
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If major track meets were held in more "accessible" American cities, would attendance improve dramatically? Maybe, but no guarantees. Attendance at the LA Grand Prix last month wasn't overwhelming.
Does Eugene still have the train horn problem? Last time I was there about 10 years ago, we got awakened by a super loud train horn at 5am. But I hear it saved the lives of a dozen blind people camped out on the tracks, so totally worth it.
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If you think NCAA attendance was bad. The Junior Nationals, aka U20 meet is empty in Eugene.
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CO Coach wrote:
gwalkerruns wrote:
It is on the NCAA schools to provide fans. There was probably 90 schools at the meet. Where are their fans? Unless you are a track fan the idea of sitting in a stadium for eight hours would be painful. Sadly, 9000 is a pretty good number these days at a track meet.
P.S. I have a Sports Illustrated from 1960 with Jim Beatty on the cover. 90k fans in the stadium at Palo Alto. Times change.
The vast majority of athletes and schools that qualified for outdoor NCAAs (across ALL events) this year were from the sun belt, from California to Georgia. Eugene couldn't have been less convenient for the vast majority of people involved short of having the NCAA championships in Maine.
It wasn't that long ago that Oregon had a dominant Track and Field team that would have made perfect sense to have them to host the NCAAs but Nike shot itself in the foot when they ran Robert Johnson out of town and installed Schumacher as head coach. Why would any locals go watch a championship meet their own team isn't even participating in? The smart play is to have a school host NCAAs that has some athletes competing and is maybe at least in the mix for a team title, then you might get some locals to show up to watch.
If they decided to hold the NCAA football championship game at the U of Oregon would it sell out? If the answer is yes then location ain't the problem. Lazy fans and alumni are the problem
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Not so much train horn, but rampant drug use on every corner and lots of homeless. Outside Oregon’s campus is awful.
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Indianapolis.
It just sounds fast. And make tickets $5–after all, track is worth what people are willing to pay.
And CHEAP food and drinks. Track is the sport of the people.
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Sprintgeezer wrote:
Indianapolis.
It just sounds fast. And make tickets $5–after all, track is worth what people are willing to pay.
And CHEAP food and drinks. Track is the sport of the people.
This.
But some would complain if a cloud rolled in. I agree with earlier poster about teams in contention hosting. Arkansas, Texas, Florida....oh, it would just end up at a SEC school regularly. So, Oregon should host on occassion but not 9 years in a row for sure.
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Normal guy who pays attention wrote:
it's the weather wrote:
Current 10-day forecast for Austin: Highs in the mid-90's every day, dewpoints in the 70s every day, chance of meet-delaying thunderstorms most days. No thank you.
Also, I think most athletes and spectators could give a crap which location has the better dance clubs.
I would think that they couldn't give a crap but what do I know? Maybe they want to go to tha club.
Are you that guy who tries to correct everyone when they say "could care less"? Both forms of the expression are correct, FYI.
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10,000 for 4 days wrote:
Eugene City offices always halve the stated numbers given by Nike. From youtube it looks like 1/3 full on the west stands the 1st 2 days, 2/3 full on final days, east/south stands empty. Guessing 10,000 for 4 days for NCs 2024?
Based on the capacity (12,600) of Hayward Field, your estimates would equate to at least 25,000 over 4 days.
And if the reported attendance of ~36k is accurate, can anyone name another location with similar or higher numbers?
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would never go back to Austin...horrible traffic and hot as hell.....Eugene is just better all the way around.
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