I'm sorry, but where are the Fans at USATF's!!!!!

Des Moines WILL support the championships next year, you can count on it. Of course you have the West and East coast biases showing up on the board concerning Iowa and the Midwest. Ask the athletes who come to Drake every why they come. It's precisely because of the great fan support.

Alright, I'm willing to let Drake put on a show. Better start getting ready now!

Dumby wrote:

Too expensive and too random a place for 99% of people to bother going to. Impossible for about 85% of the population to drive to.

Put the damn thing back in Indy. Anyone can get there, and it's CHEAP.

I would have went if it was in Indy. Oregon was too far to drive.

I wonder if championship meets slits the throats of itself by stretching the meet out over five days.....Why should the schedule be made to accomadate the very few athletes who want to double? Purchasing tickets for five days and five nights in a hotel, etc. is more than the working class and others can do. Slim it down to Friday, Saturday, Sunday and the atmosphere and density of crowds change. My 2 Cents.

How about Columbus, Ohio as a site - home of USATF president - Stephanie Hightower

ran out of ammo wrote:

USATF might want to see whether an NFL (or even NCAA) football stadium can be converted into a part-time track facility. I've seen that in Seattle.

We need to build proper track venues and morph them with other sports so they are financially viable.

Maybe Portland can get an NFL team and also combine it with a track stadium. Or maybe the minor league baseball team stadium near downtown can build a track facility there. They did hold the women's world cup soccer matches several years ago there.

Portland is bringing in MSL - they will need a stadium facility. Can the stadium be developed to handle 2 sports?

Summer weather in Portland is outstanding. Fewer allergens there when compared to Eugene as well.

In case you fools missed it, the USATF Championships just held in Eugene broke the all time attendance record for the championships. Congratulations to Eugene for once again over achieving with nearly 40,000 paid fans. There is not a place in the country that could have accomplished this, given the four day structure of the meet. And for everyone who wants the meets held in the Midwest because Oregon is too far to drive, have you ever calculated that West Coast fans have a long drive to Des Moines or Indy???

Just saying.........

To fly into Eugene is super expensive. And flying into Portland form the East coast or midwest is not cheap either. Not a lot of hotel options and those that are available suck you dry for the weekend. Hold the meet in NYC, where there are plenty of travel options and the fans will come.

Jorge q. wrote:

I recognize that the grandstand is sort of packed, but there are lots and lots of empty seats everywhere. And all the big names are competing and there are still tons of empty seats everywhere. Not fitting for "Tracktown USA." Our sport is really in trouble!!! We got to fix this.

Where have you been?

Track isn't very popular here. Never will be.

We can debate other fine places to hold the meet but the original premise of the thread was where are the fans...let us just acknowledge that was a dumb post.

Indy is tearing down their track, so that is not an option in the future. Where other than Eugene does anyone give a damn about track and field? Some other places--UCLA, Fayetteville, Des Moines, etc. have to step up to support track and field by bidding and hosting these events. Eugene seems to be the only place that has been willing to host events that are expensive (Regional Meets, the Junior Championships, etc). These other cities have to be willing to take a pocketbook hit now and then, and also host the Trials and such. Fact is, Eugene is the only place willing to host the losing meets as a trade-off for meets like the Trials. People who are whining about attendance this week need to recognize that this week's championships drew around 40,000 fans for 4 days, that was a new USATF Championships attendance record. What makes anyone think that anywhere else could equal this when it hasn't happened in the past?

What The Heck wrote:

We can debate other fine places to hold the meet but the original premise of the thread was where are the fans...let us just acknowledge that was a dumb post.

By here...

I mean...

The U.S.A.

No one gives a f*** about track.

The fans and the MONEY go to footbal, basketball, BASEBALL, and maybe some hockey.

Running is quasi popular once every 4 years. For the most part- runners; especially long distance runners are pretty much f***ing DORKS. No secret there...

Money, Pussy, More Money, More Pussy go to professional ball players.

Drake is ready, they have been ready for the past two years. They showed it by hosting the NCAA's and there ready for the championships next year

As others have pointed out, the attendance was a non-Olympic Trials record (according to meet announcer). I'm all for developing the sport and giving different parts of the country a chance to show what they can do, but I don't follow the criticism of record attendance.

Are you aware that Drake holds many of the field events on another field away from the track? Are you aware that Drake does not have a warmup track? Are you aware of the tornados this time of year in Des Moines? Are you aware of the four day attendance at Drake for the NCAA's? Don't get me wrong, the folks at Des Moines are great, but the athletes and coaches are not wild about holding a national championship there. They will have their chance to show everyone that we are wrong when they hold it next year.

The Future wrote:

I think that the economy, the automatic bids and the location play a big part into why it is not full. The one major thing that was missing was the marketing, were is the marketing like the NFL,NBA,MLB,NHL or even the X-Games. You make a money from producing a quality product and marketing that product. Also weren't the ticket prices pretty high. I hope that after FAMU builds its new track stadium we will team up with FSU to bring the trials down to Speed Capital-Tallahassee

The ticket prices were reasonable considering what you got for them - both the Jr. and Sr. meets and long days of track and field.

And the 4 day price was reasonable, and there were discount tix.

The economy, and also the time of year, start of vacation season, and end of school year / grad time at some schools within the past few weeks.

You are so full of bs. The last few meets that were unfortunately held in Sacramento were held with mostly empty seats. They (Sacto) did well with Corporate sponsors for the 2000 Trials (not so well with the 2004 Trials) and they were pathetic with the three NCAA meets. Guess why NCAA and USATF won't go back to Sacramento???

bottom line is track / field is not set-up for fans to come and watch. Four days of track / field all day just isn't something a fan wants to do. An NFL, NBA, etc. game is never that long. MLB for the world series may be multiple games on multiple days - but they are not more than a few hours.

Guess what: people don't want to spend 4 days all day at a track meet.

If track wants fans, they must make track / field more friendly to FANS by having MUCH shorter meets - 1 day or less.

My gut feeling is that the attendance was really 25k. It didn't look to me like 10k were in the stands each day. There was never a line at the toilets. The normal concession stands were completely closed, and food was sold in an open court which had only one food both with two lines. Those food lines were never full at all. I think fans are tired of Eugene. It's such a small little town with no place open after the meet is over.