"____ is the reason why track and field isn't more popular in this country"

please let it go. wrote:

Criticizing people for speaking their minds on sites like this isn't going to change anything.

lol.

Kim Kardashian

USATF and high fructose corn syrup

I'll take drugs and arrogance for $400, Alex.

There is one reason track and field isnt as popular... public understanding of the sport. When Michael Jordan dunked from the free throw line, or Kobe scores 80 points, 99% of people know exactly what that accomplishment is. For every play in football, the people that dont enjoy it (for the most part) dont understand the game, and all the true fans do. Every major sport, most people have played or have gained an understanding from spectating and thus have an appreciation for the accomplishments of collegiate and professional athletes, and even further many aspire to be like them or as good as them.

In track and field, most people dont know the difference in a 1:41 and a 2:00. If we put a meet on tv, the general public will need to have an appreciation and understanding of what the competitors are achieving to want to watch it. If only 1% of Americans have an understanding of the sport, how can we expect to generate any interest? Obviously there are other important things such as excitement of meets and announcers, and more money needs to be put into the sport by more companies besides Nike, but there is still so little room for gain. Marketing plans need to be geared to increasing the basic knowledge of the general public.

What is the point in New Balance paying Jennifer Simpson a substantial amount of money (this has nothing to do with Jenny or her running in any way, just used NB as an example) if they are not going to heavily promote her and use her to sell more shoes? People need to idolize her and want to be like and thus want to wear the shoes she wears. Running shoes are the highest sold shoes and and track can drastically increase in popularity if the investment is properly made. Just my thoughts...

mark, inderstanding would help, but only to a certain extent. for example, my brother is not a runner but has some interest in my running and knows if my times are good or bad and knows the 4-minute barrier is special. he can name a lot of track athletes, BUT that doesnt mean he will be going to every track meet he can or watching every track on tv there is. he will generally only watch the olympics for track but he watches every footbal game he can and I would say his knowledge on football isn't too more spectacular than his track knowledge believe it or not. most people know who usain bolt is, but still wont care that much for track.

The problem is twofold. First, the female athletes are waaaaaay too thin, or look like men with tiny boobs. The men are arrogant snobs with no personality, unlike football and basketball players.

second, is television. There is waaaaaaay too much down time between events for the nanosecond attention spans of most TV viewers.also, you have to watch them at full-out effort, which eliminates the possibility of seeing the athletes' personalities come out.

I noticed that even though the Boston indoor meet was on tape delay, they felt the need to show a non-start (not exactly a false start) in the 60 and then all that time getting back into the blocks. Why bother?

In no particular order:

E. Africans

End of Communism

Public subsidies for pro team sports

Entry of pro team sports into the Olympics (especially frickin endless beach volley ball)

Track and field used to be very popular in the US up through the 1980s. In fact, I remember everyone talking about Car Lewis in the 80s, seeing live gun to tape coverage of the NY marathon on network TV, front page news coverage of the winner of Boston and NY marathon. ABC Wide World of Sports consistently carrying big distance matchups with Coe and friends.

But, the 80s saw the end of communism. That meant that the Olympics were no longer a test of freedom over oppression. Then, came the rise of pro sports. Every city got a new stadium between 1990 and present day. Many cities got new franchises in the 1990s. Public funds underwrote the expansion of franchise sports leagues in the US, but did nothing for T&F. Then, the olympics allowed dream teams. Since the 1990s, olympic broadcasts have severly limited T&F coverage in favor of dream team sports and beach volleyball. Add in the fact that the E. Africans have largely owned distance events (more so outside of the Olympics, but that is where the damage is done), and track and field has become an oddity.

Money.

Plain and simple. The whole world revolves around money (and sex, but to a lesser degree).

Track and field is not a big cash cow for advertisers, so it's not broadcast often on television. Kids don't get to see much of it, so they don't often aspire to be track stars. Couple that with the fact that only a very select few track athletes make substantial money, and you have your answer.

Mark, track and field has the highest participation levels on any sport in high school and the amount of people who run dwarfs any other sport. It is not for a lack of understanding of the sport why it isn't popular.

Why are archery, table tennis, badminton, soccer, cricket, swimming, gymnastics, figure skating, biathlon, cross-country skiing, competitive downhill skiing, ultimate frisbee, competitive shooting, curling, water polo, field hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, lawn bowling, speed climbing, frisbee golf, rugby, racquetball, handball, jai alai, speed skating, roller derby, volleyball, beach volleyball, power lifting, canoeing, orienteering, crew, squash and polo not more popular in this country?

"Not enough chance for serious injury-"

"When people crash, they don't usually catch fire-"

"Too plain for most-"

"Too abstract for the rest-"

"Envy-inducing physiques-"

"So much build-up, with very short events-"

"The strategy is waaay too specialized and sophisticated-"

*i.e. "It's just running as fast as you can, right?"

"Did I mention envy?"

"People follow where the media goes, and the media usually goes nowhere near races-"

"People can't identify with the endurance required-"

"No pre-game, half-time, or post-game shows to discuss plays and strategies and hock products-"

"Running is something most people think they cannot do themselves, and thus care very little about following, whereas football, basketball, and baseball...-"

*i.e. "*I* could have made that pass!; *I* could have hit that or caught that!

"Seriously, envy, envy, envy-"

"The runners usually don't get into fistfights after a race-"

"There's no team or franchise, and people can't get worked up over one runner-"

Racehorse wrote:

The men are arrogant snobs with no personality, unlike football and basketball players.

I really hope you're kidding. I will agree that some of the athletes are boring, but most have a decent amount of personality. Now the arrogant part is crap, DeSean Jackson, Kobe, Iverson, TO, Ochocinco, Lebron, are indisputable arrogant assholes. If anyone is arrogant it's the football players who cheer before they reach the end zone, get in trouble off the field, and make stupid comments on tv. Is that what you want our sport to look like? A Bunch of stupid pigs running in a circle? Or respectable athletics trying as hard as they can to win?

boring and not a real sport, it requires zero athleticism

Fans not being personally invested in the outcome...

Solution: Open gambling windows at all major track meets, and get Vegas to take bets on them as well. Why do you think horse racing is popular? We have to give people a genuine reason to care about the outcome beyond the single-human-interest-story-per-event we get with current coverage. Imagine being able to bet on the following:

-Standard finish items like winner, superfecta, etc.

-Over-under on Bekele's last lap in a championship 5k or 10k (opening line at something like 53.2).

-Lower time in un-rabbited races, winner of women's 1500 or men's mile, with appropriate odds, of course.

The possibilities are endless.

Imagine basketball being arranged like T&F is. Instead of 5 on 5 games, you would have a dunk competition for the 6'6: guys. Maybe a dribble sprint 'event' to see who could dribble from end to end fastest; a three-pt shootout for jump shooters; maybe a 'layup marathon' of guys dribbling up & down the court for two hours seeing who could put in the most layups. A rebounding contest for 7 footers.

It could be exciting for participants, but would get old fast for viewers. That's one reason why.

I'm a former collegiate LD runner who LOVED and knew EVEYTHING about track. Now I don't watch/follow a single meet anymore. Once my participation went away, so did my interest. Track is just a really boring sport to watch. That's the bottom line.

I still like to hear what times people I used to follow hit, mostly out of curiosity but I just can't sit through a meet on TV/internet anymore. This isn't a complicated issue.

I have a book of reasons, but here are a few

1. Meets are too long

2. College meets are rarely scored,"Did your team win this weekend?" Always a fun question to answer

3. How the race is shot on TV and how it is announced

4. We don't make it fun

5. We don't spend money on our sport.

6. Promotion of sport. We need more letsruns, dyestat just went to hell, and trackshark is gone.

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