With NXN Cancelled, Will Footlocker Follow Suit or Adjust?

its getting cancelled too

coachcommentsnicely wrote:

NXN is cancelled. It’s not surprising, but it definitely sucks for every high school team that had a chance at qualifying. Logistically gathering teams for Regionals, and then bringing qualifying teams from across the nation together at Nationals is to risky for Nike. If an outbreak of the disease broke out it would be bad PR.

Will Footlocker happen? With individuals it may be more realistic. Instead of having a regional qualifier, could Footlocker change to an invite only? Only bring in 5 or so kids from each region, require them to take 2-3 tests beforehand and still have a national champion? Maybe go back to the old course in Florida?

Footlocker absolutely can still be run this year. Whether they want to stagger start the race and make it a time trial essentially. Even offer a pace biker/ atv for a target time. OR offer a bubble for coronavirus negative runners and run the race. There is only 40 of them. I really hope this happens with most likely no ncaa xc. Footlocker always has been my favorite.

They could do a region based system where they offer spots to the national meet based on a coaches ranking.

coachcommentsnicely wrote:

Will Footlocker happen?

There's no logical reason to change anything, so it certainly should take place as usual.

If necessary, I hope that FL considers rescheduling rather than cancelling. San Diego is beautiful year round, and it is such a special event. Better to have it later in the year (with the full experience) than not at all. Also, I don't care if it interfere's with track season. FLN is a much bigger deal and better experience than NBNI or NBNO.

covid?

Canceling an event that takes place in December, in July? Really?

tooth fairy? santa claus?

Help me to understand? wrote:

Canceling an event that takes place in December, in July? Really?

Yes, that seemed especially strange to me too.

they make money/advertise off of the regional meets. IF they can't host regional meets It's not worth it, then you fly people to california in december when no our country can't figure out how to get this in check in july when nothing is happening? no way foot locker happens. As soon as football shuts down half way through the season it will be canceled if not before

Meanwhile everyone up to the president is busy scheming to get an NFL season going in September. Yet, xc involves almost no physical proximity and very little chance of passing on the virus and a December meet's already been cancelled? Seems premature to me. Or, maybe realistic about the idea of having large #'s travel during the second wave.

I agree that FL should be run. It is bigger than track season and has an opportunity now to regain some of their lost prestige as THE high school nationals.

This is bigger than the actual sport. Nike, New Balance, Footlocker, etc. wants to risk being sued for major damages if someone gets sick or dies by virtue of attending NXN or FL. These companies are huge juicy targets for all manner of ambulance chasers. Imagine, some high school phenom gets COVID after attending FL nationals. He gets sick with pneumonia and runs a lackluster spring track season due to some diminished lung function. Oh, his grandmother caught the COVID from him and died. Needless to say, the family is pretty gutted by all of this.

Some enterprising attorney contacts them to help them fight the evil corporations that ruined their son's chances at a full ride scholarship and Gram's premature demise. New Balance and Footlocker created an attractive nuisance with their heavily hyped championships. The lure of a title, meeting celebrity athletes, and being scouted by college coaches lured an impressionable minor and his family into a dangerous situation and the sponsoring entities should have known better. In addition, this caused the untimely death of a beloved family member and much emotional stress. While you cannot put a dollar figure on this tragedy, the runner and his family are entitled to...let's say...$20 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Now, this will likely never see the inside of a courtroom. NB and FL will offer a seven figure settlement to make this go away. Internally, one or both of the companies will decide to opt out of ever putting on such an event in the future - it just cost them more in costs and bad PR to settle than what they would have realized in additional sales / marketing value to high school track and XC athletes. If multiple infections occur, multiply the damages.

Corporations do things because they make business sense, not out the goodness of their hearts. Waivers? Pretty much useless as they only deter the passive. It's far easier to cancel an event out of an abundance of caution than to roll the dice and hope for the best.

I will preface this by saying I have been close to the event in the past (not anymore) and am sharing my personal feelings only.

1) It is devastating news that the event is called off for this year, but it is the right call if you truly put the safety of athletes ahead of everything else (which as an event organizer, you absolutely must do)

2) This has nothing to do with $. People think Nike makes money on these events. I promise you that is not the case. It is a massive operating cost to put on 8 Regional Events and then Nationals. Flying 400 kids + staff from all over the country, booking the week before in many cases alone would wipe out most of the money made from Regionals alone.

3) People will complain that the decision was made "too early" - the reality is that planning for these events takes a long time. Would have already been in progress for many months. There are state/local regulations to work through, staffing, permits, vendor contracts, etc. You end up too far down a path and then cancel, the ramifications go beyond just the athletes.

4) Many teams plan their training based on running regionals and nationals. This can impact their summer training plan, race schedule, etc. It FEELS early, but the reality is that you'd have many teams scrambling if this decision was made in 1-2 months.

Just my opinion on this one. It sucks. No way around it, but i don't think the team could have made any other call or waited much longer.

No quite... wrote:

I will preface this by saying I have been close to the event in the past (not anymore) and am sharing my personal feelings only.

1) It is devastating news that the event is called off for this year, but it is the right call if you truly put the safety of athletes ahead of everything else (which as an event organizer, you absolutely must do)

Tell me how this involves the safety of the kids- how are they in danger? WAY more young people die from the flu than Covid- WAY MORE. Why not completely cancel everything based on that if you are truly concerned about the safety of these young athletes.

Everyone needs to desist with the emotional blackmail of using "young people" or "the elderly" and stick with the data which does not back up your claim. In fact the data, which is readily available, proves on all levels and to high degrees young people are at GREAT risk to their safety (mental, physical and emotional) as they are having all of their activities cancelled.

In NYC as of Mid-May total number of "Covid deaths" for 17 and under were 9 and 6 had pre-existing conditions. How many died from the flu by that time? Way more than that without question.

Over half the "Covid deaths" in the US came about due to horrendous policies implemented in nursing homes- nothing at all to do with youth. The other half was almost exclusively from folks with one or more pre-existing conditions and over the age of 45.

As I've said before find me 10 healthy young people under the age of 19 who have died from Covid. Should be able to find a few thousand if this were truly a global pandemic.

Playing politics with and destroying kids lives is what is happening here.

As shown, deaths in young people (from babies to college students) are almost non-existent.

www wrote:

Kids lives aren’t being ruined because they can’t do a midgets national championship

This is not simply about NXN- that's just another of the myriad of activities and events that have been eliminated. If you don't understand what all of these cancellations are doing to young people you are beyond ignorant.

And it is pretty condescending and presumptuous for you to sh*t all over some kids dreams.

Sorry, i should have said the safety of everyone involved, though when dealing with young athletes that must be top of mind.

I'd ask you to consider that as an event organizer, you don't get to just say "oh the probability is low that XX bad thing will happen" - you have to weigh the risks and make the best decision you can with the information you have.

Yes, young people are less likely to die from Covid based on what we know. But it is still a risk. Putting kids on planes, asking them to travel to Regional events, etc. (not to mention the older staff, coaches, volunteers, Nike employees, etc.) raises the risks of a negative outcome significantly and I don't believe it's responsible to put the event on in this situation, in my opinion.

No doubt about it - it sucks. I feel terrible for the kids and everyone else involved, but an argument that there is essentially no risk doesn't sit well in my mind. Call it being too conservative on my part if you want, but I'd error on the side of caution on this one before putting people in harms way. I respect that your opinion is different.

There are risks, perhaps small. Anyone who does not want to take on that risk can avoid it by not running in the regional meet. The real risk if you ask me is to the potential spectators, but that can be managed, and again would involve their own choice.

It would likely cost FL some money but they would also reap the praise of many athletes.

Some entity, be it New Balance or Nike or Footlocker etc., needs to start organizing a national postal-style meet.

3200 on the track, at any point during the month of November. Easy enough to document something like this. Both team and individual competitions.

Something like this is a throwback to yesteryear and would produce some interesting results. It gives kids something to gun for even if some states have seasons and some do not.

These national meets are always schools competing as clubs anyway so it would eliminate some of the red tape that would come from school policies.

Bull Run, Barnhart, Spiked Shoe, Gunpowder, Doc Jones all cancelled