How To Re-Popularize Track and Field, What's Your Take?

Until you get a group of people that run that have visible personalities, I think it will be rather hard to really get it out there. I think people would be more attracted to people that are actually different. Like, most of the high level athletes don't have like a signature anything. Just watching them, they all seem to be the same, short hair, no tattoos, all business. Until you get someone wild, or a few, that are really different it's not going to attract people. Its like anton krupicka, people see him, and they are like "who's this guy?" Also, until you get rid some of the technical stuff, like the recent change of women's world record it confuses people so its not very fun to watch. But, I think the team thing would be a cool aspect.

Gambling

mixed races - divide the track in 2 lanes 1-4 for women 5-8 for men. Handicap the race, whether it's 800/mile etc so that on the last lap the men should just about catch the women at the finish. The men could cut in for the last 100m of the race. It wouldn't be difficult and would make for some exciting finishes. You could even have an entire men v women meet.

Have a super sprint race - 10 x 200m with 200 jog in a set recovery time of say 1 minute. 3pts for 1st, 2pts for 2nd, 1pt for 3rd.

Street athletics mini meets - bring it to the masses like what's happened in the UK in Manchester. People are impressed when they can actually see how high pole vaulters jump and how fast sprinters run up close.

There's lots of possibilities you basically need to jazz up the sport for some meets, make it fun, exciting and not too serious which is how it appears to be with Joe Public.

The first thing to do is to ban competition in the U.S. to all non-U.S. runners, especially the Africans. Let us focus on developing American talent. Period. Too often, non-US athletes are allowed into the mix over here and because of misrepresentation of age and a whole host of other factors, our guys don't have a chance to win. This is discouraging. Secondly, ratchet up the purse. We need big money, like tennis or golf, to be put on the table for our best, again, real American athletes. This will incent performance, believe me. If no corporate sponsors are willing to fund the purses at first, get the federal government to jump start the process by funding the purse for the first few years. Once it catches on, corporates will be tripping all over each other to get a piece of the action.

This is your vision:

NHL: best hockey players in the world

MLB: best baseball players in the world

NBA: best basketball players in the world

Real American Track League: the best track athletes available, not counting the Caribbean sprinters, African distance runners or European field athletes. Sounds like a winner.

So, Usain Bolt, the world's most popular track athlete would be banned from competing in the US. I thought you were trying to increase popularity? I'd also like to see enforcement of your embargo against foreign competition. If the New York Grand Prix invites him anyway, what are you going to do? Try to pull him off the track a la Jock Semple?

The United States hauled more medals than any other nation at the last edition of the World Championships. Developing talent isn't a problem. Besides, foreign competition raises the bar. Do you think Solinsky and Rupp would be sub-27 men if it they didn't have to race 26:40 guys?

Once it catches on, corporates will be tripping all over each other to get a piece of the action.[/quote]

I would love to see the member of Congress that introduces this initiative, especially at a time when FEMA is days away from running out of money for disaster relief.

Personality, of course is important. But a personality goes a lot farther when you have a drooling media fanbase, e.g ESPN with Lebron James.

I am probably not alone in thinking that, at least for distance events, hype and bravado often detract from what makes distance runners successful: a cool head and a nose to the grindstone.

I think this is a problem for meshing with the public, because the average American, who made JV Football once in high school understands hoo-ra and team spirit and trash talk, but isn't going to realize what goes in to making a Galen Rupp or Bernard Lagat.

I think that if people realized the work and talent that goes into making a Keninesa Bekele, they would appreciate track better. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to accomplish this? It seems like Flotrack does a good job. Maybe track should get a reality TV show, if someone could just lure Snooki away from the Jersey shore

My question is- why was track once popular? I think a lot of young people posting here don't know that as "recently" as the 80's track was popular- the European circuit got headlines in my local paper back then, this year not one word on the world championships.

That said, I think one thing that hurts track is hyping one individual, then he/she false starts, has a bad race, whatever...

Make everyone count.

If the starting, star QB goes down in the 1st quarter, you still have a game with "names".

Baller wrote:

I think that if people realized the work and talent that goes into making a Keninesa Bekele, they would appreciate track better. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to accomplish this? It seems like Flotrack does a good job. Maybe track should get a reality TV show, if someone could just lure Snooki away from the Jersey shore

The reality show thing is actually a really good idea. Follow a group of guys & gals trying to run a marathon trials qualifier or something.

You hit the nail on the head though, people have no idea how good a performance by Kenny B. or other elites really is. When you say to someone at work "KB averaged 4:13 per mile in a 10K!" they'll just stare at you with a blank look and then tell you about how their sister ran a marathon last month & can't wait to do another.

I like the street race idea, too. More road miles, road 800s, ect. Bring the athletes to the people in a unique setting as nobody wants to go to a track meet anymore.

TF is wildly popular today. Every middle school, high school, junior college, and college has an track and field. Road races and marathons sell out. Every heat at track meets have full lanes. I hate it whan people try and act like they are the savior of T&F when there is no other country in the world where T&F, XC, roads, and mara, are more popular than the USA.

Matt has a HOTT sister in DC wrote:

TF is wildly popular today. Every middle school, high school, junior college, and college has an track and field. Road races and marathons sell out. Every heat at track meets have full lanes. I hate it whan people try and act like they are the savior of T&F when there is no other country in the world where T&F, XC, roads, and mara, are more popular than the USA.

But that has no bearing on the professional ranks. There isn't a single kid playing high school football, basketball or baseball that doesn't follow the NFL/NBA/MLB, watch games, have favorite players, etc.

Ask most high school track athletes about professional track and they won't know what you're talking about. They don't even know it exists.

1) Have team competitions

2) Only do dual meets

3) Limit teams to 12 athletes per team

4) Allow 5 runners in an event at a time

5) Change the shape of the track into a square

6) Cover the infield with wood and allow people to use it -- actually, limit them to staying on the infield

7) Put 10 foot poles on opposite ends of the infield with peach baskets attached to the top.

8) Make the shot bigger, bouncier, and lighter

9) Change the rules so that instead of putting the shot for distance, you try to put it in the basket

10) Allow both teams to try to put the new shot in their basket at the same time.

That should be a good start. I'd watch.

I'm a long-time fan & Letsrun poster. But I rarely watch T&F anymore, instead catching youtube, even if knowing the result. The TV coverage is so bad, it's always an irritating waste of hours of my time. I care nothing cant commentary- but need to see races in (near) entirety and know the results, beyond top 3. Plus, I need to know when races will be shown during the 2 hr time block, w/i reason. This doesn't happen, so I've stopped wasting my time.

The money is not there. It's a bunch of us geeks sitting around wondering why fat America is not watching fit people race. Instead they are watching fat people hit balls with a bat. Why? Because they can relate with them. It makes them feel good about themselves to idolize some out of shape "athlete".

The interest has to build form the youth. I'm not sure that will happen but if it's going to happen that is where it has to come from.

Let a man run against women in the 800 and then strut around after completely dominating them. Then the next year, we could pay the man to sandbag so the women have a chance to get revenge. Drama always attracts viewers.

Well, I agree quite a bit with what has been said so far. It seems that perhaps the largest hurdle to overcome is getting people to relate to the athlete. I think that once people can relate to the athlete, they will understand why track race coverage is so bogus.

If someone has never had to hammer 12 laps out on a track, boxed in on the rail, redlining and trying not to fall out the back door, it seems like it might be difficult to empathize with tactics or the suspense of a kick. People just think, "oh, there's nothing to it, they just get on the track and run." And for this reason, we see the first and last laps of all races 1500 and up, while in the meanwhile they cut to the highjumpers or commercials. (no hate for highjumpers, btw)

I am beginning to think more and more that a reality TV show would be an awesome idea... anyone know any MTV or VH1 execs?

TF, XC, RR, Marathons, running are America's most popular sport. Our sport is the best. Just look at how many races and meets were in your area this past year. USATF Associations are swamped with meets and races. Certified Officials are working double shifts on weekends. Many work two meets on Saturday, and a marathon or XC on Sunday. These old guys thought they were going to have it easy after they retired but now they are going batty wth so much work. I can't fathom why people like you want to trash the most wonderful sport and the with the most active participants in America, whish is TF, XC, RR, Marathons, and yes hobby jogging ;-) You should feel blessed as I feel to be involved in the sport and do something worthwhile for the sport rather that cry and whine like a little bitch.

Who's trashing anything? Have you ever spoken to scholastic track athletes about the pros? And I don't mean a kid that's going to be running in a national championships, I mean a guy running 11 minutes for 2 miles. Do you dispute my statements, or just dislike the reality they convey?

I've always thought a criterium style distance race would be interesting. Award points or time or cash for leading on prime laps. It would break up the monotony of a "tactical race".

runn wrote:

My question is- why was track once popular?

The Cold War, and fewer mediums and activities to compete with at the time. The Cold War meant US versus the Soviet Bloc, and that could be played out in sport. Sports are easy to get behind when I really want my team to beat the other guy's team. Man U could lose Wayne Rooney to injury, but that wouldn't stop all those Man U fans, casual and serious alike, from coming to the stadium for the match. But that team element doesn't exist in the US psyche on a national level. People want their local team to beat the other teams, but are they really gutted if Liu Xiang beats David Oliver in the Olympic final? It's nowhere near the feeling of loss or glory that winning or losing the Super Bowl against your hated rival can bring. So now that national pride isn't the factor it once way, track is held up by individuals like Bolt. And when he's not there, he takes a substantial portion of the fanbase and media attention with him.