I don't hate that take. I have said something similar before when talking about why track meets are so long and not fun for most of the people in the stands.
Most (not all) fans are either sprint/jump focused and grew up doing stuff like the 100m, 200m and the long jump OR they are distance focused and did everything from the 800m up to the 2M in track (and longer in XC). Throwers are their tribe. :)
The idea that the best throwing festival should also have a 5000m makes no sense. The idea that the "Night of Miles" should also include eight heats of the 110H makes no sense. We are all mostly fans of one discipline or the other, not everything equally.
Jamaicans would rather have watched more elite sprinting and less distance running. I don't blame them. And up in Seattle, we'd rather watch a "distance carnival" than 40 heats of JV 200m dashes.
Yet WA and USATF and the Diamond League and GST have not really figured it out that they could put on three meets with a more focused product and have more success in a shorter window.
I think you are overstating the problem a bit. It’s one event group really. Sprint fans are fine with a 4 minute distance race. Conditions do not cause jogging really. The 3/5K inclusion I’m sure was then trying to reel in distance fans. The problem is unpaced outdoor 3-5000m races are boring for all but 10-15% of the race. As Rojo has put it, the tactics are comically easy. If someone goes out, sit on them and wait until the last 200 like Taye did . If nobody does, just wait until the 400 to go mark. Without pacers, there just wouldn’t be races over 1500 in pro meets.
There aren’t tactics so much in sprints of course but the races are short and everyone is trying. So there’re a few issues for this group:
1) the distances are too similar
2) the conditions and incentives mean either the race is honest and non-competitive for many athletes (women’s side, men’s 3000) or boring for most of the race
3) without pacers, there will be jogging
Fixes would be scrapping the group, putting a pacer in one of the races, cutting to one unpaced race (the 3,000).
Before this weekend Grant Fisher was one of my favorite runners. Not anymore. Any real athlete would go for the win instead of purposely losing for the 100k. He is literally the world record holder in the event indoors. No reason to run for third. Shameful.
Grant has been very clear he wants to win a world title. His indoor performances indicate he has the aerobic fitness, but he's not demonstrated the kick to win a world title, especially against Jakob in the 5k. I have 0 issue with Grant going into this weekend with the MO that he was going to do what he needed to win the $100k, but the main priority in the races was to practice his kick and tactics the final 400.
Also if the goal is to win the 100k, I just don't see why time matters at all. Grant is not pr'ing in 5k or 3k in 85 degree windy weather without a pacer. What difference does it make if wins the 5k in 14:39 or 13:29? Neither is a good time, but the 14:39 is likely much less of an impact on the legs and he can get back to hard training sooner.
Grant just got paid $100k to do a workout where he worked on his weakest link, and people want to fault him for it. Ridiculous.
How does someone practice a kick? Either has something left in the tank, or he doesn’t. If he’s going to beat Jakob at the WC, he’s going to have to improve his even more from last year.