The death of indoor USATF

Watching it on TV this afternoon. The stands were so empty I could actually recognize my buddy Joe Fois sitting in the bleachers. I've seen indoor high school meets that appeared to be better attended. Maybe it was the forecast of bad weather that kept people away, but if this were any other sport, people would be all over each other to get tickets (Super Bowl, world series, NBA finals, Masters golf championship, etc.) . . . . . yet for this meet, a national championship, it looked like you could have showed up at the door and just walked in and had your choice of seating.

It was a two-day meet and I suspect Saturday was more poplar, especially with both 3000 finals and the men's 1500. But...it probably still didn't do well.

its been like this for years

Most college conference championships were this weekend, too. Think if they scheduled the super bowl the same weekend as all of the college bowl championships. There is a relatively small audience that is going to travel to the USATF championships to begin with. When a good portion of those people are also interested in college runners, you've got an unnecessary scheduling problem.

I'm a die-hard distance running fan who knows a litle bit about the competitors in most events. I recognized almost no names today. It is a joke to call that a National Championship meet. I'm sorry but I've never heard of the winners of most events and Torrance and Myers would be (and have been) owned by college competition. What a watered-down, slow, boring meet. After both Lagat and Symmonds withdrew, there was no hope of the meet being any good. I wouldn't leave my apartment to watch that meet either.

there's just no incentive for the worlds top athletes to compete at indoor nationals....and i'm not sure the USATF can provide that incentive

It is a terrible place to watch a meet.

The stands are too low.

There is too much interference in the midfield. All sorts of loitering going on in the field area that blocks the view of the track. You can only see the finish from the VIP seating or the overpriced sections.

They have a bunch of demo races which floods the stands with kids changing their clothes (no showers for competitors) getting up, sitting down, generally creating a distraction.

I have never liked the three ring circus atmosphere, mutliple events interfering with each other.

And music during races? What ever happened to the races being entertaining on their own.

Put the meet in a venue at which you can see the races and the finished.

And it appears to me that the WSU track must be short, or spring loaded.

Oh yeah, no running clock that continues as all the competitors finish.

I like skinny shorthaired chicks. Too many girls hide behind their hair. Girls woth short hair are different. Lok at that muscle tone. Godeffingdang !

I like skinny shorthaired chicks. Too many girls hide behind their hair. Girls woth short hair are different. Lok at that muscle tone. Godeffingdang !

Lawyer who runs fast wrote:

Watching it on TV this afternoon. The stands were so empty I could actually recognize my buddy Joe Fois sitting in the bleachers. I've seen indoor high school meets that appeared to be better attended. Maybe it was the forecast of bad weather that kept people away, but if this were any other sport, people would be all over each other to get tickets (Super Bowl, world series, NBA finals, Masters golf championship, etc.) . . . . . yet for this meet, a national championship, it looked like you could have showed up at the door and just walked in and had your choice of seating.

Of course high school meets will have better attendance. People have friends and family competing at a high school meet. If you are like most Americans, and have at most a casual grap of track and field, you would still go to a meet to watch your kid. To watch Myers and Webb in the 1500m? Less likely.

This is supposed to be the last year the meet is in Boston which probably did not help the turnout. On the athlete side, the field were probably reduced becuase of a lack of a World Indoor Championship to qualify for.

I agree with the above poster that the seats were empty because of the lack of a compelling reason to attend: no indoor worlds, many superstars not in attendance, annoying crap like music during the races and no real story lines.

Just around the corner were two very serious collegiate track meets (Heps at Harvard, New Englands at BU) . . . . at least at Harvard it was virtually standing room only. Despite the championship not being in doubt, the place was rocking; we commented that the alumni presence seemed even more than usual as the different schools have started to use the meet as an excuse to have a fundraiser function. The hepstrack.com website has recorded 100,000 unique visitors in just two weeks - although half of them could have been letsrun poster BRF.

BillCarr wrote:

at least at Harvard it was virtually standing room only.

To be fair, at Harvard it's almost always standing room only: There's no room there!

As for me, I actually bought tickets for both days but was forced to work over the weekend and could not attend either day.

If the USA National indoor championships are leaving Boston then the only place left for them is the NY Armory. Perhaps there they can bring together more talent and put on a better meet. Otherwise, they should strongly consider just no longer having the meet indoors. Perhaps by putting all their resources into the outdoor meet, they can truly move forward.

The meet this weekend was an embarrassment. I felt sorry for the competitors, who came with serious intentions, only to find themselves in a glorified time trial setting.

The Armory is inappropriate. Too small. Run down. Lousy access. A dump in a shit town. The next USAI will me at the Albuquerue Convention Center. They will be putting up portable seats for it. Albuquerque is a great town for such an event. It's big enough yet not too big to ruin the focus. It should be in the 40's then.

Nostalgia Time here:

Back In The Day ( up to the late 50's, early 60's) the "AAU Championships" was THE climax of the New York City indoor season. A packed house , 15,000 I think, at the most fabled sports venue in the world... Madison Square Garden, 49th St. and Eighth Avenue. ALL the US'ers plus many international stars.

That was then. This is now. Nobody wants to run on the small arena tracks anymore due to slow times. Sunkist and Cow Palace meets died long ago. All the top preps choose the PAC-10 and west now just the same as in college football.

Let foreigners enter the meet and run in the races, that'd spice things up.

Arena Track wrote:

That was then. This is now. Nobody wants to run on the small arena tracks anymore due to slow times. Sunkist and Cow Palace meets died long ago. All the top preps choose the PAC-10 and west now just the same as in college football.

Another reason to discontinue this meet. If it's going to Albuquerque, great, but meets that were held back in the 70's died there, too.

Pro Track indoors is like going to one of those fly by night circuses that come to small towns. They make believe they are big time, but sell old peanuts, has been entertainment and cotton candy.

USA Track would be better served by building up it's outdoor track circuit, running from the end of June until the end of August, in harmony with the meets in Europe. By running some of their meets after the college season is over, they can build up some of their talent with recent college grads and provide some local identity to the meet. Have meets in Gainesville, Waco, Eugene and other locations where track means something to the fans. Include college athletes again so that the fan base can expand.

Indoor track used to have a good fan base because there was a good mix of college and international talent competing together on the same stage.

Pro track is still too disorganized and great competition between the top athletes doesn't happen often enough to warrant fan enthusiasm. The same thing is happening with the Millrose Games, a shell of its self. Sad, but true.