True / False. The farthest seat from lane 8 in Hayward Field is still closer than the closest seat at the London Olympics.

Those facilities are antiquated, of the former age of Television, woefully out of date, and a non factor today.

At the $5 Billion Dollar So Fi Stadium there's a double wrap around HD8K LED Screen so you can see every play close up, the same play at many different angles shown on each screen

Occulus, Palo Alto (owned by Meta) and the NFL Network R&D Laboratories in West Los Angeles will soon have XR video which will be multiple fake video of plays from fake angles rendered at 120fps, real-time by super-computers.

EX-Microsoft guy Steve Ballmer will have hundreds multi million dollar apiece custom made military grade missile guidance TV cameras and hundreds of closeup screens hanging from the ceiling at his new Clippers stadium.

rojo wrote:

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/pierce-o-callaghan-a-rare-irish-presence-at-the-top-of-world-athletics-1.4762469

Ian O'Riordan has written an interesting article in the Irish Times on Pierce O’Callaghan who is basically in charge of trying to set World Athletics calendar as its head of competition management.

But later in the article, I was stunned by this anecdote about Hayward Field. Is this true?

O'Riordan wrote:

“Historic Hayward Field is a magical stadium, 25,000 seats, and the furthest seat away from lane eight, is still closer to the nearest seat was in London’s Olympic Stadium. That’s how the people want it, that’s the tradition. It’s very different to most other major stadiums, that creates challenges for us, but as a fan it took my breath away.”

No, it's NOT true. For several reasons.

First of all, both London and Eugene have 9 lane tracks, not 8 lanes, and the guy quoted in that article didn't know that.

Second, the new Hayward Field doesn't have 25,000 seats as that guy claimed. It only has 12,650 seats. Once again, the guy quoted in the article doesn't know what he's talking about.

(That "25,000 seats" figure was an artificial number that Eugene greatly exaggerated when they told IAAF they would build a stadium that big in order to get awarded the World Championships. Even with adding a very big temporary bleacher section, Hayward Field is only expected to expand to a max of about 19,000 total seats. The "25,000 seats" figure is pure fantasy.)

Third, as you can see in this photo that was taken on August 3, 2012 during the Olympics:

there are 2 big indents at the 150m mark and 350m mark on the London track. At the biggest part of the indent lane 9 is about 50 feet from the closest seat. But around the turns, lane 9 is only about 20 feet from the closest seat.

There is no way that the farthest seat away from the track at Hayward Field is less than 20 feet from lane 9.

If you compared both tracks at the 350m mark (where London has a big indent and Eugene doesn't) then the farthest seat at Hayward would probably be a similar distance as the closest seat in London at the 350m mark.

Just wait till this guy sees an indoor meet!

top elite ones are great, you see all the stars about 5 feet away

Thank you for clearing that up.

Quick use of GoogleMaps shows the back row of seating is 33 yards away from lane 9 and the front row at the tunnels in London Stadium is about 50 yards from where lane 9 would be had they kept the track.

Midfield first row seating would be about 35 yards from Lane 9, but that's with the apron there too, corner seating except for the tunnels would be closer

runBUCKS wrote:

Quick use of GoogleMaps shows the back row of seating is 33 yards away from lane 9 and the front row at the tunnels in London Stadium is about 50 yards from where lane 9 would be had they kept the track.

Makes sense. The London Stadium is slightly bigger with 66,000 seats (80,000 for the Olympics). It's main purpose is as a soccer stadium, so sufficient crowd control is important.

LON EUG stadiums are like Horse Buggys. Totally outdated. The new $5B So Fi , $3B Mighty Ducks, $3B Clippers stadiums will have close up video on dozens of screens, simulated and real angles from every seat.

Cant imagine that the nosebleed seats at Hayward above the finish line are any worse than any other stadium. It truly was designed for getting the fans close in my opinion. However, Im not happy with the seats in the bottom rows of the upper section on the backstretch with the glass right in front.

Side note: Alice O'Riordan had a helluva voice. Cranberries.

Yes no doubt the U of O stadium is great, but try getting a reasonable hotel room in town?

RichardRider wrote:[/

Side note: Alice O'Riordan had a helluva voice. Cranberries.

You mean DOLORES O’RIORDAN?

The State of the Art Stadiums today guarantee each and every fan in every seat a closeup view of the action . The Chargers, Rams are State of the Art today. Upcoming soon are Clippers and Ducks stadiums. Other venues may have plans but no word yet. I would expect word soon from Brooklyn in particular.

runBUCKS wrote:

RichardRider wrote:[/

Side note: Alice O'Riordan had a helluva voice. Cranberries.

You mean DOLORES O’RIORDAN?

Fun Fact: Dolores also goes by the nicknames Bovary and Mulva

Bad Wigins wrote:

Just wait till this guy sees an indoor meet!

top elite ones are great, you see all the stars about 5 feet away

The BU indoor meets >>>

New balance is building a new track in Boston to host some professional meets. There isn’t a ton of seating, but the atmosphere is gonna be great in a facility like that. Definitely a good way to get new fans

It's a Junior Mint! wrote:

Fun Fact: Dolores also goes by the nicknames Bovary and Mulva

You should read Seinlandia if you remember such details