Airport lounge wrote:
Cross country is a niche sport that gets its fan base from those that watch the domestic talent develop and move through the ranks. There seems to be a decreasing interest in the men's side of the sport at the D1 level as the elite teams are dominated by foreign athletes with unknown back stories. Pundits have recently focused their attention on the women's side of the sport because there are more elite teams comprised of domestic talent. Note the lack of threads on this site having anything to do with the men's race for the national championship. Same with the podcasts which focus on the women's side and the rising stars there. If the pace of elite foreign recruitment continues the only people who will be interested are the coaches and the athletic directors after a win. Comparisons have been made to the loaded, global Dodgers roster, but this is a specious argument as we are dealing with college athletics not pro sports. This is still an amateur sport and fans want to see true amateurs participating in it at the D1 level. Fans want to see athletes developed from within their own communities given an opportunity to run at the highest domestic level.
And the most obvious point - 99% of the Kenyan athletes are DOPING.
People from other foreign countries aren't much cleaner.