I work at a local running store with a man named Mitch Potter. Today we were having a discussion about a possible way to revitalize the sport of Track and Field. Mitch relayed an idea he has discussed at times with Brooks Johnson and other big shots in the world of track and field:
Popular professional sports give people something they can identify with and feel a personal connection to (ie: if you live in Minnesota, you are likely a die-hard Vikings fan, put a hold on your life every Sunday for three hour, own some amount of Vikings apparel/ memorabilia, and have probably spent $100+ at a Vikings game at the Dome). People love Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey and in other countries (and to some degree this country) Soccer because they have a team they can cheer for. They feel communally connected to other people from their state or region in the shared experience of being a fan of something. This element is completely missing from Track and Field. While there are some Track clubs (Santa Monica, Oregon TC, Team USA Minnesota), these groups may train together, but once they step onto the field of competition it is every man or woman for his or herself. This creates a problem: Who do you cheer for? Why should you even cheer? I'm a pretty big fan of American Distance Running, but still I don't know who to cheer for at Outdoor Nationals or any other road race or track meet. I usually just cheer for someone I've either met or have heard a touching story about (Go Lopez!). Or maybe someone is going for the record. But often if a meet does get on TV and no one's going to go for a record, people will flip the channel. And when it comes to other events (sprints, jumping, throwing etc.) I have no idea who to cheer for, and again, even for me, unless someone is going to jump a height never before attained or throw a record distance, I won't usually even tune into anything but distance events. Much less know how to cheer for; maybe one of them went to my college or grew up in MN, but besides that... The only time our athletes come together to compete is the Olympics and World Championships, but the only time the general public ever hears about it is the Olympics. And we all know how much media attention this causes Track and Field to get for the 47 months in between Games.
Wouldn't it be exciting if state, city or regional Track Clubs started competing against one another? It would give people a connection to a certain team, and a region to watch and cheer. A reason to pay attention. I would love to buy a Minnesota Track Club t-shirt and watch them each weekend in the spring take on other Clubs or Professional teams in meets. Track meets could be scored like high school or college meets, with all events adding to a team's overall score. It could be dual meets versus other programs, or big invitationals. There's a plethora of directions the idea could go, all of them intriguing (and all having some flaws).
Only the top few athletes in each distance event make more than 300K a year and even less for a lot of sprinters and especially throwers. However, someone sitting on the bench on a subpar football team is often easily making this much. Professional Track Teams could sell apparel, get sponsorships, get on TV, and make the sport generally more exciting which, as evidenced by the relative decline in American distance running performance in the U.S. in the 1990s, is important to our national prowess in getting young, potentially strong athletes into the sport.
I'm sure this idea has been brought up before and there are obvious barriers. Especially seeing as Nike is basically the Yankees on steroids playing against minor league teams right now in the way that it sponsors athletes. But I'd like to hear what people think about the idea. And it might be my young idealism, but this being the first time I heard of it, the idea is exciting to me and I want to know if anyone else feels the same way.