it can't be fixed because there can only be a few winners. Everyone else too slow to have a chance.
it's not a great participation sport either, let alone spectator sport. 99% of track participation is school extracurricular. You don't have to win, if your school happens to win it means nothing, in the end only the fastest runner wins.
The only real cure is to make it like golf, where even average players have a handicap that rates them. Track needs a leaderboard where you can be the 10,000th out of 100,000 and can boast about that.
The only real cure is to make it like golf, where even average players have a handicap that rates them. Track needs a leaderboard where you can be the 10,000th out of 100,000 and can boast about that.
I think we have that. It is called road racing and masters running. Millions of Americans do road races and seem pretty happy with that.
They just don't care what the Kenyans and Ethiopians and Woody Kincaid are up to. That is okay too. Millions of people prefer to participate in running instead of watching it. We should stop trying to get people to like running as a spectator sport.
It isn't that interesting to watch someone run a 5000m if you aren't an insider or know-it-all who is able to evaluate the pace and surges and kick. To most people a 13:00 is visually no different than watching people run 16:30. It is fast but so what?
This post was edited 45 seconds after it was posted.
The women had a football league--the lingerie football league. We need more twerking like that pole vaulter who has an OnlyFans account and made a million dollars from that. CEO track pigs, take note.
The question I have always asked is WHY does it need fixed?
We continue to break records throughout the season and have great matchups in championship meets. Seems like plenty of old favorites are battling to hang on as new talent tries to take what they have.
Putting WC and Olympics last meet on the schedule and coming up with better pay are good moves. Don't need gimmicks just to keep the attention of people that dont really care that much. Definitely dont need men competing against women either.
Someone referenced DL vs GS and the pending battle for talent. MJ has a billionaire on his side forcing DL to come up with more cash. Seems like thats good for everyone.
Track meets without field events seems odd though but gimmicks to make up for that dont help so there's a problem that needs fixed.
Every meet can't be a championship meet with full depth fields constantly breaking world records. Too many variables that cant be controlled. There needs to be a buildup of the season where top talent comes together for all the marbles.
How many NBA, NFL, MLB games really matter when so many get to make the playoffs? The last qualifier is the only one who has any pressure. And how many huge upsets are there eliminating should be finalists basically wrecking the season of the favorites?
Why does track need to be "fixed"? So it can look like other sports? No thanks. Id prefer fun indoor season with a few records, a great prep training block with a few early season meets for low key fitness tests, then pop a couple good ones and hit the championship season to make an international team. Then go over to Paris (LA and beyond) and clean house. The NCAA is a great way to see what's coming minus the Hobbs Kesslers of the world.
I just dont need a championship meet every weekend. I like the build up. I dont want track and field to be as boring as the other sports playing a bunch of games that dont matter. College football used to be kinda exciting before free agency. Their little tournament isnt going to fix the huge mess they have now.
Its a big world and I dont want to see the same meet every week with the same people. I like regional competition with some opportunities to cross regions and then go at it to conclude the season. What's wrong with that?
What I think the problem is, is spectators want to read the comic strips, a little something for everyone and it's over quick rather than understand how masterpiece art is created and appreciated for a long time.
So yeah, the sport doesnt need to change. The short attention spans of spectators do.
This post was edited 8 minutes after it was posted.
Exact opposite. You could take 9O%+ of the money out of the running and all the 'problems' would go away. Real runners and joggers would still have their sport (always enough volunteers - I remember the '60's) and the only ones to suffer would be politicians and tin pot fat cats who leach off the sport.
Exact opposite. You could take 9O%+ of the money out of the running and all the 'problems' would go away. Real runners and joggers would still have their sport (always enough volunteers - I remember the '60's) and the only ones to suffer would be politicians and tin pot fat cats who leach off the sport.
Two things...1, if you remember the 60s....
2. Do you remember how AAU, TAC, USATF treat athletes who train like professionals but are expected to work full time jobs to support the travel it takes to make it big? That hasnt changed much and it sucks.
Needs more rivalries, trash talk, threatening to beat people up or go out with their SO. Basically, needs to be like the Tennis movie Challengers with Zendaya.
"Build it and they Will Come" we thought would pan out nationwide from Kevin Costner of Compton and Cal St Fullerton. It didn't happen unfortunately. All we got is little meets and XC and mounting financial disasters. Now it's back to L.A. The $Trillion Streaming TV Studios dominate sports and have swallowed up whats left of amateur sports.
The only real cure is to make it like golf, where even average players have a handicap that rates them. Track needs a leaderboard where you can be the 10,000th out of 100,000 and can boast about that.
I think we have that. It is called road racing and masters running. Millions of Americans do road races and seem pretty happy with that.
They just don't care what the Kenyans and Ethiopians and Woody Kincaid are up to. That is okay too. Millions of people prefer to participate in running instead of watching it. We should stop trying to get people to like running as a spectator sport.
It isn't that interesting to watch someone run a 5000m if you aren't an insider or know-it-all who is able to evaluate the pace and surges and kick. To most people a 13:00 is visually no different than watching people run 16:30. It is fast but so what?
I’m a casual fan. I don't run, but love watching TRack (Field... not so much). Now i never see it. If every sport goes to Streaming only diehards will watch. T&F, cycling, ski racing--- they are all dead to me now :/
I don't think the sport itself needs to be fixed really. Just the marketing and promotional side of it.
The general population used to love spectating running more than they do now. Madison Square Garden used to host big showdowns.
How exactly it gets "fixed" to be as relatively popular as it used it be, I have no idea. I'm inclined to say guys like Chavez and Johnson and Merber have no clue and are just in it for the clout and a paycheck.
I do partially agree somewhat with the poster above that it needs more rivalry and smack talk. It's a sport, it's okay if everyone is not always best buds. Just because you're friends with everyone in your run club and you shake hands and wish everyone good luck at your turkey trot doesn't mean the pros need to do the same.