the Hayward rebuild was botched. Lines at the men's urinals with small crowds. No utility space on the track. No equipment level in the stadium seats. No underground parking. Corrodors are too narrow, clog up with small crowds. No food service facilities inside the stadium. Instead thet make food twp blocks away, and used to cart the food on the asphalt street one hour before meets before the CIty of Eugene cited UO for food safety violations.
I guess this is what you get when you ramrod through a stadium rebuild on a budget before a hard deadline.
You just described just about every construction project that's ever been done.
Track attendance is pathetic. There are what, less than 20 total meaningful track events every year? Can you imagine if there were only 20 total NFL games what kind of crowds they would get. Anything less than 100,000 people for a track meet of meaning is pathetic.
This is pretty important. You'd have to find a city willing to invest millions and sacrifice valuable real estate for this. No one wants a track only stadium, its just not practical. Sorry everyone, but Eugene is the best that can be done.
A purpose built track stadium seems unlikely. They should just build a track into a football or soccer stadium.
Correct but there is no vision from USATF.
How expensive would it be to make a boards type track that could be put in an stadium and then taken out and used in a different stadium 4 years later?
I was told that Mark Cuban - former owner of the Mavericks - looked into building a track into like NFL stadiums as he was thinking kind of like having a super DL final.
I think we need to come to terms with the fact that this is not the role USATF plays for our sport. Imagine what the state of professional basketball or soccer would be in the US if it was up to USA Basketball or USA Soccer to promote it? Here's a hint, those organizations are no better than USATF. Track could really use a Mark Cuban to pour some money into some professional events, until someone like that comes along Nike is the best we've got which means we better get comfortable traveling to Eugene. If Nike had just had the foresight to build the new Hayward field in Portland instead of Eugene we likely wouldn't even have this thread.
One BIG question should be WHEN will it be used for its most important purpose? If it is the NCAA Championships, then average weather in early June is crucial.
This is why I think Edwards Stadium in Berkeley, CA could have been the new Hayward Field, if more were invested in it. Out there, June Gloom lasts all summer. The marine layer keeps the temperature down in the afternoon and evenings. Even when it does get warmer, it's still that "dry heat" that everyone says isn't so bad.
Parking might be an issue, but it is easily accessible by public transit.
In terms of drawing crowds, Hayward's biggest problem is being in Eugene. I live in Portland, and it's a decent drive down but hardly any traffic so it goes fast; if there was a decent regional airport down there, it would make life so much better for visitors, but I'm not sure Eugene really wants to be that big time anyway (regardless of being 'Tracktown USA' and having a world class facility).
The drive from Portland to Eugene is never fast. There is always a slow car sitting on the passing lane blocking miles of traffic.
How expensive would it be to make a boards type track that could be put in an stadium and then taken out and used in a different stadium 4 years later?
I was told that Mark Cuban - former owner of the Mavericks - looked into building a track into like NFL stadiums as he was thinking kind of like having a super DL final.
I think we need to come to terms with the fact that this is not the role USATF plays for our sport. Imagine what the state of professional basketball or soccer would be in the US if it was up to USA Basketball or USA Soccer to promote it? Here's a hint, those organizations are no better than USATF. Track could really use a Mark Cuban to pour some money into some professional events, until someone like that comes along Nike is the best we've got which means we better get comfortable traveling to Eugene. If Nike had just had the foresight to build the new Hayward field in Portland instead of Eugene we likely wouldn't even have this thread.
So what, a Diamond League for the US?
T&F will never take off in the US because T&F athletes don't look like americans. Football players look like your "mostly muscle" blobs frequenting Walmarts and Targets. T&F has rail thin Africans fighting beating similarly thin Americans. Just what the US public wants to see, someone who's name they can't pronounce beating someone they'd call a homophobic slur in a race at 12mph.
Boulder. Times would be rough due to the altitude, but its a market where people would watch.
I dont think people would attend track events in a lot of the major metro areas. Just too many other draws.
A purpose built track stadium seems unlikely. They should just build a track into a football or soccer stadium.
So your approach is to just emulate the Eugene strategy, despite the fact that its failure as a venue is likely the driving force behind the OP's question.
The thing with big cities is, even if there's some other big event - there's still millions of other people around that aren't going to it.
If you stage a meet in a city of 100,000 people, there's absolutely no chance you're getting a crowd of 20,000 plus.
They are literally building a pool at Lucas Oil stadium (Indianapolis) for the Olympic Swimming Trials. That's right, they are constructing a pool overtop of the existing field/ground. Close to 30k people are expected nightly for the 9 nights of the trials.
Why can't something similar be done for track and field? Plenty of open air football stadiums you could do this in...you'd just have to build over top the existing field and first few rows of seats. Think about holding it at a place like Lincoln Financial Field in Philly. You'd literally have a population for what, 60+ million, within a 5 hour drive? Heck, MetLifeStadium would be a better option
They built a temporary 35,000 seat stadium for the Cricket World Cup in Long Island.
No vision from USATF....then again, this might cut into Max's ridiculous salary/bonus....
Max runs USATF like a third world dictator. And that is precisely the vision for USATF. A life of comfort and luxury for Max and trips for Max and his supporters.
I'm surprised USATF hasn't made Orange County, CA the site for the trials. But I guess Max got to go to disney in Orlando in Feb. 2 visits to Disney in a year might be too much.
Ohio State is redoing Jesse Owens stadium. Put identical bleachers to the homestretch on the backstretch and bring some portable ones in on the ends and you have yourself a nice track stadium to watch at and Columbus is easy to get to and has plenty of hotels. It'd also be a good way for area fans to see what good track looks like.
I think we need to come to terms with the fact that this is not the role USATF plays for our sport. Imagine what the state of professional basketball or soccer would be in the US if it was up to USA Basketball or USA Soccer to promote it? Here's a hint, those organizations are no better than USATF.
This is a really fantastic point. We talk about how corrupt USATF is, but then expect them to lead the development of the sport. Which is wild when you think about it; it's almost like we don't take our own opinion seriously.
I don't know if enlisting a random billionaire is the right approach, or doing something from the ground up, but expecting USATF to have a vision is clearly not it.
T&F will never take off in the US because T&F athletes don't look like americans. Football players look like your "mostly muscle" blobs frequenting Walmarts and Targets. T&F has rail thin Africans fighting beating similarly thin Americans. Just what the US public wants to see, someone who's name they can't pronounce beating someone they'd call a homophobic slur in a race at 12mph.
There are very few "rail thin" Africans (or Americans) in sprint and jumps and none in throws.
Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill triangle - accessible by air, ground and train. Population base, college sports supporters, decent place to go.
Honestly, this might be the best suggestion so far.
Track events wouldn't get lost in the shuffle like they would in the big cities. It can be warm and humid in the summer months, but there are definitely worse places.
T&F will never take off in the US because T&F athletes don't look like americans. Football players look like your "mostly muscle" blobs frequenting Walmarts and Targets. T&F has rail thin Africans fighting beating similarly thin Americans. Just what the US public wants to see, someone who's name they can't pronounce beating someone they'd call a homophobic slur in a race at 12mph.
There are very few "rail thin" Africans (or Americans) in sprint and jumps and none in throws.
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