TrackTown USA my ass. Take a look at the crowd at the Oregon relays (pic)

Agreed. They should move Eugene to Los Angeles, the Olympic Medalists Capital of the World which also hosts the greatest Country/Western Festival since the First Kenyan Civilization in 200,000 BCE.

Must be bunch of grandchildren of 1970s Oregon haters posting who are still jealous at Pre's three Olympic Gold Medals.

It was a glorified hs meet as a fundraiser. Nothing more. Not meant to be more either.

A fundraiser for what? How many funds could have possibly been raised?

Well, at $500/ hs team..... they could find something to spend it on.

How does it affect you? Why do you care so much?

Stop the hate Californians overwhelmingly support the University of Oregon. 2/3rds of the UO student body is from California. That's why Californians affectionately call the University of Oregon "California State University at Eugene". Show me some love for UO.

If only there was another event on during this month that had large crowds...

Put that crowd in the old cracker box Hayward Field stadium and it would appear overflowing.

It was also the first warm and dry weekend in western Oregon in some time. Go to a high school track meet at Hayward or do something else like hiking, wine tasting, go to the coast, yardwork, etc.? Lots of empty seats at Mt. SAC last weekend, too. (Oh noes!!!! Alert Max Seigel!!!)

Pre will be packed. NCAA Champs will be packed. USATF Champs will be packed. Worlds will be packed. If the meet is important, the stadium will be packed. Most of you do not understand the effect of good weather on the psyche of Oregonians.

That's a fair point, but what's really underlying this is the broken connection with the city and the fans. Martin Smith screwed up by being hesitant to race his big guns at every crappy dual meet, Vin said he was going to bring it back but it was so corporate it was never something people could grab onto - for instance, when Oregon went 1-2-3- at NCAAs those guys didn't even take a lap! They were probably worried doing something spontaneous fueled by emotion would get them in trouble. Vin cultivated rule following, not a passion for the sport. Now Robert Johnson is continuing the corporate approach to track and field but is even slicker (crossing the line to sleazy, some would say) than Vin which is saying something.

The magic is gone, never to return, but Nike marketing will tell you otherwise.

I really enjoyed the Oregon Relays as a fan in person! I absolutely love the stadium! Parking is horrible! The city of Eugene has everything that somebody would want!

I love how runners get defensive and blame a low turn out on to an outdoor track meet on “good weather in the Eugene area”. Lol do you know how dumb that sounds? the weather is so great that not going to an outdoor event is a good option? Lol

last time I check mlb stadiums are packed every weekend regardless of weather

Running is just a secondary sport In the US. We should all just accept that. It really should only be amateur.

Penn gets crowds because well, it’s Penn. Name recognition and history will fill it for one weekend out of the year. Do it more than one weekend and you’ll get 1/2 the crowd and so on to the crowds dwindles. Track can’t compete here with the other draws in town.

U OF O and surrounding area doesn’t have much of a draw outside football in the Fall. Like someone else said, the warmer weather will bring people out, mainly because there is no other competition for outside activity.

You ever been to a Miami Marlins home game? Ya, those are packed to the brim?

I went to an Oregon dual meet with Kansas back in the 80s. It wasn't a major event at all, and the attendance at Hayward was still 6,000 or so (half). This was post Salazar/Chapa, McChesny era. Oregon stars at the time were Lorraine Moeller (hurdler then!), Kathy Hayes, and Jim Hill.

Penn and Texas relays are school meets. The stands are full of classmates, teammates and family. They're there to root for their team. Remove the rooting interest and the crowd vanishes -- they are not track fans per se -- they're cheerleaders. Hold nationals or the World Championships at those sites and the stands would look like your picture. For big important meets the stands are going to be packed. That is why those meets are held in Eugene.

We all know we're in T&F for the fun of it. I loved Spring Break during my college days when our team established mandatory camp in L.A. for a few weeks and we farm boys took turns driving the GMC passenger van to up to 24 different meets in Az and So Cal all March and April. Thanks to our alumni the team had optional camp in L.A. open for all the summer months. No, T&F won't pay the bills. Yet it's great to have little one shot meets at out of the way places in fly-over states like where I'm from sometimes. The only true pay dat we have are the Olympics and it's only every four years. A dream.