California
California
Real Track Poster wrote:
Most places will cost you more for lodging and meals, a that will likely more than offset the extra airfare charges. No, whining is more fun than logic.
Know why lodging and meals are more expensive other places? Things cost more in cities that people actually WANT to visit. Hotels are more expensive in NYC because people actually want to go to NYC. Meals are more expensive in LA because LA actually has decent restaurants where people want to dine.
The cost is lower in places like NY and LA because the competition between public bus, public trains, taxi cabs, rental cars, hotels, motels, hostels, b&bs, etc.
Small little shit hole towns gouge when T&F champs happen since they have no other means to profit.
Having championships track meets in NY and LA are better because the local meet directors, coaches, and athletes always organize a 5k, 10k, road race, or all comers meet around the same time.
We all know that real, true T&F people can't sit in the stands for more than an hour w/o jumping on the track and getting in some miles ;-)
Man, where have you been? Hotels, meals, transportation are all outraqeously expensive in LA and NYC, certainly a lot more expensive than places like Indy, Fayetteville or Eugene. You whiners can't have it both ways, you want a big city, but you don't want it to cost you anything. True track fans are going to the Trials to watch t&f, not to tour a big city. All the seats in Eugene are sold out, so at least 16,000 track fans are willing to pay to see a great track meet. Would those same 16,000 people pay a lot more to see the same track meet being held in LA or NYC?
That is correct. The total cost is far lower for big cities like Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Your, Boston, but only if you shop around and take advantage of the tourist market.
The cost is lower in places like NY and LA because the competition between public bus, public trains, taxi cabs, rental cars, hotels, motels, hostels, b&bs, etc.
Small little shit hole towns gouge when T&F champs happen since they have no other means to profit.
Having championships track meets in NY and LA are better because the local meet directors, coaches, and athletes always organize a 5k, 10k, road race, or all comers meet around the same time.
We all know that real, true T&F people can't sit in the stands for more than an hour w/o jumping on the track and getting in some miles ;-)
Penn Relays is the most exciting T&F meet in the world witn 70,000 screaming fans.
The strength of T&F is that our community are almost 100& participants and coaches. Like Yoga, there are very few T&F fans who don't actively participate as a practioner or educator of the sport, i.e. in a physically active capacity. T&F fans are not spectators.
I hope Max Siegel shows his marketing skills and can turn ordinary cities into a Franklin Field extravaganza. Thus far Masback, Logan, and McNees have failed at creating a great fan and urban experience for USA/OT fans.
Max can prove his mettle very soon with USAs at Indy and/or Columbus then venture out to capture world markets with OTs at Los Angeles Farmer's Field.
Real Track Poster wrote:
Man, where have you been? Hotels, meals, transportation are all outraqeously expensive in LA and NYC, certainly a lot more expensive than places like Indy, Fayetteville or Eugene.
You might be right about hotels. Lodging in NYC is pretty expensive (though I am aware of at least two perfectly nice hotels in Manhattan with regular rates under $200/night). Food is really only slightly more expensive if you compare similar products. There are certainly many opportunities to eat better food, and thus spend more money, in NYC. But there are reasonably priced pizza shops, sandwich places, diners, family restaurants, etc just like anywhere. If you spend an outrageous amount of money on food in NYC, it's because you're eating better food, not because you're spending more for the same food.
With regard to transportation, you have to be joking. In fact, transportation is probably the one area where NYC is significantly cheaper than pretty much any other city in the country. A 7-day metro card costs $29. If you fly into the city, a ride into Manhattan costs about $7. Pretty much any other city will require a rental car. Even in a cheap city, renting, parking, and fueling a rental car will cost a heck of a lot more.
"So far the approach has been to transform the USOC Trials and USATF Champs into a Boy Scout National Jamboree tucked away in a quaint farm town. Max Siegel's job is to take us out of rural mode into the world media limelight. How he does that will be interesting to observe."
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With ignorance we allow history to repeat itself. Here is a short history lesson: Track and Field was doing just fine in the US, up to 1980. Then with Olin Cassell's guidance, the decision was made to get into the media limelight by placing the Oly Trials in large cities and huge stadiums. Many of can still recall the Trials in the New Orleans dome, 70,000 seats, with 7,000 fannies in 10% of those seats. It was an embarrassment for the sport, and Cassell, repeated it for several later Oly Trials, driving the sport into the ground and into the red (financially). It wasn't until Craig Masback took over the bankrupt organization in around 2003, that USATF finally saw the light. Let's not be stupid. Let's not repeat the same old mistakes.
So far the approach has been to transform the USOC Trials and USATF Champs into a Boy Scout National Jamboree tucked away in a quaint farm town. Max Siegel's job is to take us out of rural mode into the world media limelight. How he does that will be interesting to observe.
Expanding our sport in the internet age is Max's job. There should be a 10-year NO-repeat location rule for Olympic Trials and Outdoor Champs. Metro Areas that represent the six major relays and three major marathons should be at the bottom of the list since they are already hotbeds of our #1 track and field team in the world.
OT should stay in Eugene. NCAA and USATF should go back to Sacramento. It is way better than Eugene with regards to weather.
I would only like OT to go to Eugene because it was amazing in 2008. The other championships there have not come close and the weather blows...literally.
Personally, I'd be happy to return to Eugene in '16, but I'm guessing USATF will choose another locale and that certainly seems fair.
I thought the '08 Trials in Eugene were far more enjoyable than Sacramento in '04 or '00. Once you left the track and the nearby brewpub no one gave a rat's ass about the Trials in Sac Town. In Eugene there is great Trials vibe everywhere you go. Weather is much, much better and there is plenty to do: great places to enjoy a few beers, rafting, the ocean, the Cascades, wineries. Every single one of my old track buddies that I saw in Eugene thought it was the best place for the Trials and non of us are from Oregon or the NW.
I understand Eugene is a small town and can't compare to NYC or LA (or countless other cities), but like it or not, our sport is a niche sport and we might as well have our Trials in a community that embraces track & field.
If USATF selects a locale in '16 with miserable weather, I'll pass and watch what I can on-line or on TV.
The champs and trials should move around every year on an 8 year cycle to places like Boise, Durham, Sacramento, Buffalo, Eugene, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Lexington, Nashville, etc. I agree that places that have the majors should not be chosen unless nobody else wants to host the champs and trials.
San Diego is a wonderful tourist town.
non O wrote:
I understand Eugene is a small town and can't compare to NYC or LA (or countless other cities), but like it or not, our sport is a niche sport and we might as well have our Trials in a community that embraces track & field.
The nichness of the sport is a good reason TO have the big events in major cities. If only one person out of every 500 wants to go to a track meet, there are 16,000 people in NYC who want to attend. A small portion of a big population is still a big number. Even niche activities are well represented in major cities.
We love NY, LA, Boston, Phily, San Francisco, and Chicago, but those cities are already magnates for our sport that don't need development. They already have the magnificent Mt Sac Relays, NY City Marathon, Penn Relays, etc. plus those cities have made USATF what it is today. It's the rest of the USA that needs development. The South though is too damn hot in the summer. We need to put our heads together and think of the United States as one team that needs expanded publicity and more participation. The way we do that is to have our showcase championships in places around the U.S. that are underserved.
I betcha the 2012 OTs will be in the Mid-West due to Max Seagull.
Max will have the next US Trials in the mid-west, his home.
So Cal USATF can't handle any more meets, roads, thons, ultras. So Cal USATF is already over worked with dozens of meets each weekend. If you don't believe me check our website. So Cal USATF has happily brought up the kids who have won nearly half of the USA medals and many medals for other nations including Allyson Felix, Mary Decker, Flo Jo, Brian Clay, Inger Miller, Lauren Fleshman, Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall, Alysia Johnson, Meb Kelfegizhi, Carmelita Jeter, Jeshua Anderson, thousands...
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