Attendance Record at Hayward Field

Jamaicans make up 90% of the crowd. Shows how great our sport is for them and how Americans on the east coast don't give a shit about our sport. Penn Relays is not fun at all. Penn is dangerous with security guards all over the campus at night. Phily has a very high murder rate.

Remember folks, the 1991 US Nationals were at Randalls Island in NYC (that dumpy old facility that was there before they knocked it down and put up Icahn Stadium and the attendance was pretty abysmal. Maybe half full.

ssrun wrote:

I doubt you would get the attendance anywhere else> I live in NY they cant even give away tickets to the Millrose Games anymore. I've been to the Penn Relays and I guarantee you that on "distance night" on Thursday there are not thousands. Wondering does the Penn Relays figures include participants??:)

this is just plain wrong. millrose does ZERO marketing, charges rip-off prices for tix ($80-$100 for good seats) and has watered down the program so there are next to no stars (and the ones that are there are just going through the motions). when your most exciting races are the high school miles and 4x800s, something is very wrong with the meet.

i have very little doubt that if mary w and her machine got behind promoting the nats, you would have huge crowds. after holding the marathon oly trials in front of minuscule crowds in 1-horse towns for years, usatf finally woke up and put them in ny and boston in 2007/08 and, low and behold, there were huge crowds. unlike most other places, people actually show up to sporting events in ny -- particularly if they are well promoted. even reebok sold out this year and is expanding with more stands for next year.

Eugene is THE place for the event in the same way Baltimore is home to Lax. They moved Lax to Boston this past year which is a larger metro area and it was not as well attended. Many in the Lacrosse circles commented on how Baltimore is the true home to Lacrosse.

Omaha is the home of the College Baseball World Series every year, certainly by your suggestion College Baseball should be held in SoCal or Florida but it is not, it is held in little old Omaha. That is where the spiritual center is,the same reason Eugene is called "Track Town, USA". May God bless Eugene the spiritual home of Track in the United States.

We love Eugene and Eugene loves us.

you might want to get your facts right before posting nonsense again in the future. the lax FF was moved to boston 2 years ago (NOT last year) and put up attendance figures much better than those in baltimore in 2003 and 2004 and almost exactly the same as baltimore in 2007:

http://laxbuzz.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/mens-lacrosse-popularity-ncaa-mens-lacrosse-championships-to-return-to-baltimore-the-heart-of-lacrosse-as-attendance-at-gillette-stadium-in-boston-area-showed-declines/

this year's FF had lower attendance figures but, as the article notes, so have most other sporting events due to the bad economy. it further states that baltimore is much more centrally located than boston so a lot more people can drive there. how many people can drive to eugene? how many can drive to nyc? you can toot your horn all you want about how eugene is the track capital of the US but, when you can't even get 10,000 to show up to the national championship and there was zero other competition in the area, it falls on deaf ears.

nyc gets 8,000 people to show up to meaningless road races in central park every weekend year round. getting 30 or 40,000 people to show up each day to a national championship that is marketed correctly would not be that difficult here provided that you can deal with the other drawbacks (eg, it's expensive to stay here).

My little sweetness, the Lax FF attendance this year was down. Bottom line. Boston is a larger metro area and the attendance was DOWN. New England has as many if it not more schools that play Lax. Baltimore is the home for Lacrosse purist the same way Eugene is home to Track Purist. When the Lax FF comes back to Bmore it will come home, just like Eugene, just like Omaha. Untie your panties and accept Eugene's love.

dick hertz wrote:

nyc gets 8,000 people to show up to meaningless road races in central park every weekend year round. getting 30 or 40,000 people to show up each day to a national championship that is marketed correctly would not be that difficult here provided that you can deal with the other drawbacks (eg, it\'s expensive to stay here).

First off, NYC does not get 8,000 people to shoe up at \"meaningless\" roadraces in Central Park. It gets far fewer and you know that - I see you don't provide statistics to support your statement for running like you do for lacrosse (BTW - LAX? What are we a sport pining to be confused with Tom Bradley International Airport). Also, New York City had an estimated population of 8.2 million in 2006, so I would expect any event in that city to draw a large crowd just due to the sheer number of residents there.

Here are the attendance figures for the Olympic Trials -

City Year Total Attendance Average

Eugene 2008 167,123 20,890

Sacramento 2004 172,230 21,528

Sacramento 2000 187,104 23,338

Atlanta 1996 151,522 18,940

Los Angeles 1984 143,826 17,978

New Orleans 1992 137,262 17,158

Eugene 1980 121,727 15,216

Eugene 1972 109,800 10,980 (10 day meet)

Eugene 1976 105,500 13,167

Echo Summit 1968 100,000* 12,500

Indianapolis 1988 90,070 11,259

Numbers are on the upswing since 1996 and seem to have settled in the low 20,000 range. Sacramento is by far a larger MSA than Eugene and within 2 hours has a much larger population to draw from than Eugene, yet Eugene nearly matched Sacramento's 2004 figures.

Look at the numbers for New Orleans, Los Angeles and Atlanta - which are all large metropolitan areas. Attendance is dismal and for Atlanta and LA, the Olympics were held in those cities that same year. I\'m sure they were marketed and had the attention of people in those cities, but you can\'t turn the average runner into a track and field fan, so citing participant figures for races in NYC does not translate into people in the stands.

Finally, there are not many track stadiums in the US which can hold 30-40,000 so promote all you want but all you\'ll get is a sellout at a smaller figure.

pretty sad in our dying sport that many spend more time bad mouthing something that is trying it's best to make track mainstream. there's a lot of self hate amongst runners going on here haha

Los Angeles is spending billions of dollars preparing for a world class event such as the FIFA World Cup, IAAF Worlds, US Oly Trials, Olympic Games, etc.

The streets are dug up here in front of USC on Exposition Blvd for a new LA Metro line that connects to LAX. For 100,000 fans from all over the globe, no rental car nor taxi will be needed anymore.

my big sweetness, i can see that mildly complex phenomena are not your strong suit. you claimed (incorrectly) that moving the lax FF from baltimore (your proclaimed capital of lax) to boston (your proclaimed non capital of lax) resulted in a big drop in attendance because it no longer was in the lax capital. as the article i posted showed, the attendance figures directly refute that claim as the attendance from 2007 to 2008 was virtually identical. the fact that it then dropped from 2008 to 2009 in boston can be explained by other exongenous forces, such as the bad economy. i know that this may sail right over head but the facts are the facts. i think that it is comical that eugene sees itself as the track capital of the country and it can't even get 10,000 people to show up to the national championships.

Quit saying it was the same and later admitting the attendance dropped. It dropped !!!!!!

Let me say this again, I know its hard for you to understand but moving a event to NYC does not make it a great success.

Omaha is for baseball but NYC would have more people, lets have it in the Bronx !

Baltimore is for Lacrosse but NYC has more people lets have it in Manhattan !!

Kona is home to THE best and most special Tri event but NYC has more people lets move it to Long Island !

Why that damn Masters Tourney in South Carolina would be so much better attended if it was in Philly, lets move it to Philly !

Get the drift ?

Some places are special and moving it to NYC or some other large metro area is not what people want and it would diminish the event. You disagree but thats life.

The same Los Angeles which has no NFL team?

FIFA World Cup? Not coming anytime soon.

IAAF Worlds? Haven't heard of those being awarded to LA yet.

US Olympic Trials? In Eugene in 2012 and based on the statements of Doug Logan probably beyond that.

Olympic Games? Chicago is the US bidder for 2016. Haven't heard of a bod from LA for 2020.

Adidas meet in Carson can't see out, so all the talk about LA preparing for a world class event is nice, but preparing is one thing, hosting is another, and of the world class events specifically mentioned by you above only Eugene is hosting such an event at this time. Hopefully Chicago will join the list soon.

As for the new Metro line in LA, I haven't seen ridership numbers which show that has been a big success.

That's the NFL's problem not LA's. The NFL can open shop in LA anytime. They just have to bring $2 Billion per team. LA doesn't pay for teams.

That's Home Depot's problem, not LA's. Any stadium with no toilets, no shade, no running water, no seatbacks, no concession stands, etc. will not draw fans regardless of where it is. Adidas and 2005 USA Outdoors proved that.

LA has successfully hosted two Olympic games, one Oly Trials, one FIFA WC, one Womens FIFA WC, RNC and DNC Natl Conventions, Oscars, etc. plus dozens of world class events every year.

LA is the best market to host world and national level T&F and running championships. Abywhere else and the sport will remain dead.

Eugene has never had one nor two Olys, nor a FIFA World Cup, nor an IAAF Worlds, nor any NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL team. Eugene doesn't even have public bus service to their puny airport. So shut the eff up ass wipe !

FYI they are in fact building a NFL football stadium either now or in the very very near future. my grandparents live near to where they are beginning to build the stadium and it supposed to be huge.

Not in the City of LA. The planned NFL stadium is way out at the eastern edge of LA County near Mt Sac. They plan a Metrolink line but that's another name for the Amtrak killer train with endless casualties. We'll see how it goes.

There was talk of an Pro T/F League and Soccer/TF stadium at Exposition Park/USC. For now the high capacity Metro Line is going in as planned. It's not just a slow speed city tram. The Metro will haul tens of thousands from LAX each hour.

The attendence is 50% athletes and coaches. The formula works like this: more athletes...more attendees. You want to fill MSG like good old days for Millrose Games? Add a few more HS events from 3-6pm.

Why would anyone go to Eugene from beyond 100 miles, if they were not there for support or to make money?

LA had the Pac 10 championships about 3 years ago. The UCLA stands were half full, even on the last night, the rest of the time, they were 1/4 full. Don't preach that LA will draw for track and field because it has proven that it won't. Even when the Olympics were held there, most of the fans were visiting from out of the area.

Hey Mr Fact, which "Masters Tourney" is in SC? Are you talking about The Masters golf championship held at Augusta National, which is in GA? I was holding onto your every word...now I sense some credibility issues.