Plan to make Track Popular

The team format could work but not just any random collection of athletes to make up a team. The way to go is with international teams sort of like with the World Cup nations competing against other nations. Each national team earns points based on how they place in each event. You would have your individual events but I also think relays, lots of relays are great for the sport. Also while the meets should feature pros, having college and high school level races make for a complete meet. Wish they would structure at least one of the Diamond League meets this way.

TheTrackLover wrote:

The team format could work but not just any random collection of athletes to make up a team. The way to go is with international teams sort of like with the World Cup nations competing against other nations. Each national team earns points based on how they place in each event. You would have your individual events but I also think relays, lots of relays are great for the sport. Also while the meets should feature pros, having college and high school level races make for a complete meet. Wish they would structure at least one of the Diamond League meets this way.

The adidas Grand Prix this year had high school and kid events, like New York's fastest kid, the dream miles, and the 4x400m relays.

my ideas:

-half time events, example; star studded 100m or mile race during nfl games

-celebrity meets, intersport meets, i.e. lebron vs brad pitt vs betty white vs obama pentathlon

-gambling (horse racing...)

That's a dud. It won't work. The NFL is doped on steriods and HGH and EPO.

That idea is about as good as giving Andrew Weating a 300-400K contract.

Quick name a Pro Stasdium with a track in it?

To make track popular it would need to have its own league I believe. There would need to be a lot of money pumped into it. They would have to limit the events to no more than 10. They would have to choose these events wisely, choosing ones that spectators like. This doesn't mean all sprints. You could run distances, like the mile and even a 3k /2 mile. 10k is too long for the ADHD media. Market research would be a smart idea.

I don't think its ever gonna happen. But it could. Soccer isn't a flashy game but it's the worlds most popular. Even America got into the World Cup. Bottom line is who wants to foot the bill?

Fillers destroy a pro meet. Millrose has been completely watered down by meet organizers with HS, local college, masters, and other meaningless charades and clowns.

The main point I was trying to get across was:

1) Track meets are too long for the general populations attention span

2) No one watches the whole meet, only parts of it

If we have a short quick fast paced meet with lots of action that is attached to another sport with surplus money then a "15 minute track meet" would cost a lot less than having a few songs by a pop group

What about the pro wrestling model? The runners could be handed a mike before the race and talk smack about each other before the race. With their lady friends standing by.

Then during the race, the lady friends could chase each other around the infield, 'accidentally' tearing off articles of each others' clothes.

Great event put on by Puma. All the kids got into the race. Cool idea too. 13 guys enter, 1 wins. Each lap the guy in last gets pulled off the track. Time doesn't matter in events like this and all people care about is competition. Why do people watch Nascar? Ask any Nascar fan the world record time at Daytona....they won't know! They only are entertained by the action. Make track action packed. They need to MAKE the top Pro's do relays also. It would be better for the sport.

Why do you need to make T&F more popular than it already is. We have so many meets in So Cal at all levels we can't get a weekend off. Even in December and January there's outdoor cross country and all comers meets. Age Group, Youth, JHS, HS, Community College, College, Masters, Club, Walkers, Ultras, Special Olympics, ... We're swamped to death with meets and races.

What we need are more USATF Certified Officials, Timing Crews, Pit Crews, Hurdles Crews, volunteer Media reporters/photographers/video camera men, public relations writers, marketing specialists, athletic trainers, massage therapists, etc. We need directors to verify times and marks and seed heats/races. It'll help us tremendously if we had more help from volunteers. If you are in Southern California, come on out to any track, xc, walk, ultra, RR, thon, etc. and volunteer. We'll put you to work immediately every weekend if that's what you want.

Wow you guys are actually buying into this!! You think putting "track meets" on at HALF TIME of a FOOTBALL game will give us popularity?!?! No it will make us even more of a laughing stock.

I can't believe people think this is good but turning track into a draft based sport with clubs and teams was a "terrible" idea.

But then again we are on LRC, so if its terrible here it might actually have a shot at working.

Where are you going to run these races? What pro stadiums have tracks?

towhee wrote:

What about the pro wrestling model? The runners could be handed a mike before the race and talk smack about each other before the race. With their lady friends standing by.

Then during the race, the lady friends could chase each other around the infield, 'accidentally' tearing off articles of each others' clothes.

haha, best idea right here!

It's so simple - its just that no one has the balls, the resources, or the will to do it. The European meets do it decently well. These are the things that we need to do:

1) Cut down on time between events. Make it like the Penn Relays where as soon as one event ends, the next starts.

2) Cut down on filler events - pro meets should be for pro athletes. Meets should be 1.5-3 hours long, I don't see why they need to be longer.

3) Make it an event - in between races, put on cool things to keep the crowd interested - even minor league baseball games have things to keep the crowd coming...t-shirt giveaways, kiss cam, fan involvement.

4) This is obvious...HAVE GOOD TV PRODUCTION. It's not a matter of knowing what to do, it's just a matter of not giving the job to some of the most boring, stupid people on the planet. And the commentators are not all to be blamed - whoever produces these shows is the real one to blame. No pacing, someone has to be feeding the morons in the booth a script. It's not that hard...someone with resources just has to put in the effort.

5) Try to make some of format that sets different countries/cities/anything else against each other. People love sports because they are a representation of culture - when the Giants beat the Eagles, New York is better than Philly. Jamaicans love Usain Bolt because he represents all that is Jamaican.

So put in a team format with some sort of league (probably unrealistic). But I do think we should try to go back to country dual meets, or at least try to have show downs between stars and really promote them. But I guess that's up to the agents.

A lot of this just matters doing it. Maybe we just don't have the resources to do so though...who knows?

Why does everyone care so much? Why can't we just run and stop acting like obsessed little bitches? Why can't we just run? There will always be fans, and that's not going to change, why does track need to be popular? It's already so much more popular than so many other sports that people devote their whole lives to. So what's the big deal?

t&f is already very popular in the usa especially in los angeles, orange country, riverside county, san diego county, kern county, etc. kids like lauren fleshman, ryan hall, alysia johnson, meb kefleghizi, deena drossin, marion jones, brianna glenn, lashinda demus, allyson felix, carmelita jeter, lionel larry, chelsea johnson, allison stokke, a.j. acosta, nicole blood, bryson nellum, jeshua annderson, angela williams, and thousands more notables came up here as preps.

Tennis is popular as an individual sport, so too could track be.

But, it does need some kind of "system" like Tennis's Grand Slam or Golf's Majors.

The Diamond League is a good idea and could be the format.

A meet should be a package to be presented- 2-3 hours, no fillers, non-stop- event to event (that's the official's jobs).

Then, and I hate to say it, create an atmosphere- upbeat music people having a good time- like a soccer game.

Cheap, cheap tickets- just get people there.

Get road racers involved. At your local 5K promote the sport at the highest levels- the RRCA and USATF could work together on this.

Market the sport like crazy.