Why so many empty seats in Eugene?

Because it’s boring to a lot of people. You don’t get why some people don’t like to watch people run around in a circle when it isn’t the Olympics?

Heaven forbid we hold this meet at Drake because of all the empty seats on TV, and then Hayward looked like it did this weekend.

The stands were pretty packed for Pre. I went to both and the final day of USAs was more exciting than Pre even though Pre was also incredible.

I think a lot of the local/regional crowd chose Pre over USAs and the Eugene fatigue + expense is real for those traveling long distances.

Personally, I love Eugene and I love staying in the dorms, but I recognize that my personal enjoyment does not reflect what is best for the sport 🤣

Sorry I don’t care where you have it. Track doesn’t fill stadiums unless it’s part of the Olympics.

Despite its moniker, track town, Eugene just doesn't have that many track fans. You can't just call something something and expect it to be true. Eugene is essentially just a place Nike execs like to hang out and they're trying to dupe the rest of us into thinking its something special.

The stadium got too big for Eugene's britches. The old stadium was a fixed 10,000 capacity, now it's a fixed 12,650 and an additional 12,000 from expanded sections. Fitting 8,000 people in a stadium like that would look somewhat sparce, especially when the home stretch is completely packed and the other parts are less than half packed.

Quite simply, Eugene, OR, sucks. And Nike's efforts to force fans to endure Eugene, when venues of various sizes in every other major city across the US would function better for athletes and for fans, are infuriating.

Says the guy who would be on the boards complaing that if it was in...

Des Moines...too boring

Austin...too hot

Any P5 sec school...not enough local interest

LA/bay area....too expensive, too much traffic

Any other city by a coast...too far for some people

Yes, they should mix it up more but on terms of pluses vs minuses, you're not beating eugene at the moment

Minneapolis

Chicago

New York

Boston

San Fran

San Diego

Philly

DC

Madison, WI

Seattle

Lexington, KY

Nashville, TN

Portland, OR

Providence, RI

There is just a long list of cities that would probably get more fans than Eugene.

Every city that has a pro sports team, save maybe Green Bay, would get more fans to the U.S. track nationals by virtue of the population base that doesn’t have to travel for it.

Born and raised in Eugene and here are the reasons why I think there were - and will continue to be - so many empty seats:

1) As many have stated repeatedly, Eugene is relatively tough to get to and not cheap to get to

2) Despite efforts by the CoC, hotels continue to jack up prices and require several night minimums for track events and football games

3) Ticket prices - I went Saturday and Sunday but wasn’t willing to pay $35 GA for Thursday’s 10Ks (essentially) for example

4) Eugene fatigue is real, even for diehard TrackTownies

5) The new stadium was built for Worlds - many of us said at the time “we’ll never see Hayward full again” - even though Pre was “sold out”, there were many visible empty seats

You left out Indianapolis…. Terre Haute is already Cross Country Town… I bet Indy could easily take over the Track Town title from Eugene if the meet ever makes it to the Hoosier State

$35 wouldn’t even pay for parking at a major sports event. Parking is $120 for games at SoFi.

Indy last hosted USAs in 2007. Attendance was not anything spectacular. They have since made changes to the facility that make it possible to host at IUPUI and there are no other outdoor tracks in the area that are suitable.

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No doubt. But most track fans are cheap and used to tickets being cheap - especially for a day with a thin schedule like Thursday.

Walking to the stadium yesterday we saw some frat boys charging $40 for parking. Needless to say, they weren’t getting a lot of business.

Most of those cities do not have a track that could host USAs.

I’m from Seattle, UW took the track out of the football stadium. Their new outdoor track is nice, but has no infrastructure around it, not even running water. The handful of stadiums with tracks in the area generally don’t have steeple or hammer.

Most importantly, most of those cities do not have a Local Organizing Committee willing to run the meet and take on the financial risk.

I’ve been to Eugene many times. It is hard to get to and very expensive to stay during these meets. Throw on the cost of tickets and it’s a few grand to be there.

Tracktown is cool and all but if you moved it around I think more people would attend. Maybe a city with a major airport and lots of hotels.

Staying in Portland is far from out of the question.

I've read a lot of comments on Lets Run over the years that there's not a lot of other cities that REALLY want to do it, never mind the ones that might be better located but don't have an appropriate facility. Does anyone know (1) all the cities with facilities that meet standards for championship meets; (2) how many of those cities bid on championship meets, and (3) how many of those cities are easier to get to and cheaper than Eugene.

I would like to see championships elsewhere, but Eugene is a helluva a default option.