Anyone else think this Diamond League format sucks backside?

They cut the prize money per meet to 1/2 the GL amount. The DL is the GL on the cheap.

What we need is an IAAF Outdoor WC this year an every 3 or 4 years when there is not a Summer Olympics. There should be no BYE year like 2010. This little DL meets are nice teasers in little quaint villes but only the majors make legends and our sport deserves a major world championships each and every year.

A friend of a friend who knows a guy that dated the sister of a guy that should know what he is speaking about said the 2 on US soil meets will contest the orphan events with US talent being showcased

I do not see how following the rankings and total points thing is going to get but a yawn. Say one has 3 more point scoring chances and anothers event has 4 but one is too soon after the other and the next two are spaced right but are on the other side of the world that kinda shtt will make it hard to be interested.

I don't think that you have been following along very well.

Point 1 about 5000s: for simplicity, the DL meets that will have a 3/5/10 have it listed as 5. Similarly, meets that are listed as 1500 may have a mile. What is listed and what is run may not be the same.

Point 2 about the same event for both sexes: The DL meets will not have DL status for the same event for both sexes. Similarly, the GL meets had events that were not part of the GL. The meet may have a women's DL 400 and a men's non-DL 400 for men. Nothing stopping them. Some things you will probably see every year: 100H for men in Shanghai as long as Liu is around; men's javelin in Oslo; and men's mile in Eugene.

Point 3 about the 2011 season: The DL events signed on as part of a series, there is no reason not to tentatively set up dates for next season.

1/2 Prize wrote:

They cut the prize money per meet to 1/2 the GL amount. The DL is the GL on the cheap.

Because it was shifted to appearance money. Major stars don't care about prize money in invitational events.

It's only 1/4 the total amount now. The sport is getting chinsier and chinsier

1/4 the amt wrote:

It's only 1/4 the total amount now. The sport is getting chinsier and chinsier

Then go buy a ticket! Anyone remember that jackass on here starting the thread about how the NYC meet was going to be too expensive? Crap like that is why there isn't a ton of money.

Yes the 10,000 is drastically different than the 5,000.

When was the last time someone held the record in both events?

OK, currently, but when was the last time before that?

Oh, the previous guy. But what about before that?

Aouita was a 5,000 record holder and couldn't...wait he was number one at 10,000 one year.

Hurumph!

Preparing for and recovering from a 10000 is very different than a 5000, would you agree? Yes, runners are usually succesful at both but that doesn't mean they are different events.

I think you should go back and read what you just wrote.

The GL, DL, Euro circuit was originally designed to be a side show to keep fans interested in the three years between Olympics. They always chose small backwoods towns to keep costs down. I think they should have an IAAF WC this year. Why isn't there a WC this year. It's stupid not to have a WC. You don't see the NFL having a bye for the Super Bowl. Even Nathan's 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest is held every year. WTF is wrong with the IAAF ?

the world cup was held ervery four years (last time 2006) which means that 2010 should be a "world cup year" again. the iaaf though changed the format and the world cup is renamed in "IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup, 2010 - Split, CRO (formerly World Cup in Athletics)"

So there actually is a world cup held this year - with major modification though. There are only 4 teams (africa, america (north and south!), europe and australiasia (australia and oceana) with 2 starter in every event (exception: middle and long distance 3 per event, 2 best score)

the concerns i have about this new format are:

1) who decides who compete for these four teams and how. for europe it will be comparatively easy as they will nominate the first two of this years european championships, but what about your american team? i mean your us team is actually strong enough so it does not necessaraily need any south american taem member. will they send simply the best two athletes or what is the criteria? do you have a championship similar to europeans where you could pick the team?

2) who cares anyway about the world cup anymore? during the cold war we had the real highlights at the world cup. the athletes did also represent two different system so that there was more "heat" on the track and the fans really had something to cheer for (sovjet union and gdr vs. usa, frg and europe...)

and personally i really dont like the gl and i don think the dl will be a better format. the big meets simply destroy the smaller (but not worse) ones...

The 10k and the 5k are different from each other...but not by much. If you're primarily in shape for one, you're at least primarily or secondarily in shape for the other.

Honestly, I think that they should never have them in the same meet together except if there are going to be record attempts or time standard attempts (like last chance meets). But I suppose time standard attempts could be made unnecessary if they let you qualify by using a time from an adjacent event.

I feel the same way about the 200m in a meet where there is a 100m and 400m. There are too many events in track. Cutting down on events and keeping up the pace of the meet might make it much more spectator friendly for the general population. And it'd be easier to follow the superstars in a few events rather than across 10+ events.

Anyone feel me?

The IAAF World Cup is not a major meet like the Olympics, IAAf Outdoor World Championships. There are no national teams, only continental teams, and regional teams. As I recall, there may be a semi-finals for the sprints but that's all. A very limited number of athletes are invited. It's basically another TV teaser meet to hold over fans between Olympics and IAAF Outdoor WC years. But instead of the local meet people (LOC) running the meets like the GL, DL, SGP, GP, and EAA meets, the IAAF itself runs the World Cup. To host an IAAF World Cup, the IAAF Family (1,000's of delegates plus spouses and tagalongs) have to be flown in, wined, dined, housed, chauffered, and catered for 2 weeks to at the locals' expense. A convention hall has to be rented out for a week before so they may host a convention to decide IAAF business matters not related to the immediate meet at hand. Many more non-meet things must be paid for by the locals.

A long winded answer to a question nobody asked.

1/2 Prize wrote:

They cut the prize money per meet to 1/2 the GL amount. The DL is the GL on the cheap.

What we need is an IAAF Outdoor WC this year an every 3 or 4 years when there is not a Summer Olympics. There should be no BYE year like 2010. This little DL meets are nice teasers in little quaint villes but only the majors make legends and our sport deserves a major world championships each and every year.

Are there not MORE meets?

It is a foundation for GROWTH.

Give 'em a break. They live in Monaco.

on the runs wrote:

1/2 Prize wrote:

They cut the prize money per meet to 1/2 the GL amount. The DL is the GL on the cheap.

Because it was shifted to appearance money. Major stars don't care about prize money in invitational events.

And all indications are that now that they have secured Bolt (and to a lesser extent Bekele and Yelena.....) there are many prominant runners who are finding out (or about to) that they are coming for chump change. It's going to be a disaster....

Not just Monaco mind you, they had the World Cup in Madrid, then it was planned L.A. but was cancelled when the L.A. LOC boys didn't agree to the IAAF Mafia expense, then it was switched to Athens.

I don't see why the IAAF just doesn't cancel the World Cup and hold the IAAF Outdoors instead. There is definitely support for it. World Outdoors is a major success each year.

Who at the IAAF HQ lives in Monaco ? I thought the employees live in France since Monaco is way to expensive for people with public relations and sports career salaries.

recession wrote:

on the runs wrote:

Because it was shifted to appearance money. Major stars don't care about prize money in invitational events.

And all indications are that now that they have secured Bolt (and to a lesser extent Bekele and Yelena.....) there are many prominant runners who are finding out (or about to) that they are coming for chump change. It's going to be a disaster....

The big guy's gotta get paid.