Diamond League Spectator Attendance not that Good

How many at NY Diamond League-5000?

I figured around 2,800 were there today but a few hundred on the back straight were competitors or their entourages.

Out of the rest of the crowd, half seemed to be Jamaican or Trinidadian.

I got to the stadium at 2:30 after hanging out with a couple of very odd characters in East Harlem, waiting for a crowded M35 bus.

By the time I arrived the guy on the back straight food stand only had Gatorade, water and hot Coors Light (left out in the sun) but couldn't sell me any of them because he didn't have change for $20.

Fortunately they restocked him and gave him some change, so I was able to enjoy a very reasonably priced afternoon tea of Gatorade and M&Ms.

The bleacher creature bathroom facilities consisted of a half-a-dozen porta-potties, which were a dark shade of green and well stocked with hand-sanitizer.

The oddest part of the day was the giant-screen being blown around 180 degrees as we reached the climax of the high-jump. Fortunately they managed to crank it back around before the final attempts.

For $30 I had a good time watching a world-class event but I haven't seem stadium facilities that bad since watching soccer in England in the 1980s.

NYC is the worst Diamond League meet by a wide margin. The next one, Paris, always has a big crowed.

I was there too, this year spending the extra few bucks to sit on the homestretch near the 100m/110m start (section 207/208). The bathrooms are better on the main side, as were the food choices (hamburgers, etc). Unfortunately, since they check tickets at the gate, I don't think you would have been able to enjoy 'our' bathrooms or food.

The attendance was not great, maybe 70% full? OTOH, the meet was great, despite the wind, some excellent times, and a historic high jump.

Interesting that the women's 800m was scheduled to be one of the last races of the day but they moved it up by about 3 hours.

Why doesn't adidas have a booth selling t-shirts, etc? Every year they miss an opportunity.

They also have too many youth races, if they want to keep them, they should run them in the morning. I don't want to waste my time seeing the fastest kid 100m, or the youth 4x400m.

The Adidas meet could be as good as the Nike one but they need to master the art of presentation. If you want anyone but hardcore fans to watch, you have to cram everything into 2 or 3 hours and put a big grand finale at the end.

They should also rename Icahn Stadium "Legendary Icahn Stadium" to one-up Historic Hayward Field.

Doha had a huge attendance this year.

The Adidas meet needs to be in Germany, not NYC. If I were the M.D.'s for the NYC meet, I would look for a more promoting title sponsor than Adidas (or even a better name for the meet) as it is making it look as if Adidas are only doing it to rival Nike and host a big meet in the USA.

nyc dl is horrible wrote:

NYC is the worst Diamond League meet by a wide margin. The next one, Paris, always has a big crowed.

Yep. The NYC meet only exists because they really want one in the world's premiere cities. Not because it's a well-presented meet.

No Bolt, no attendance. Sad reality. There obviously needs to be more stars like him that can pull people. It's not easy. Even a major world record holder and likable guy like Rudisha doesn't pull them in.

yupThe money is in the European Broadcast rights and NYC is a 'world city'. The west coast venue staged at Blottissonsville au Milieu des Arbres Séquoia has big budget fields so the tiny town quaintness gets a so what by the media buyers.

St Germain wrote:

nyc dl is horrible wrote:

NYC is the worst Diamond League meet by a wide margin. The next one, Paris, always has a big crowed.

Yep. The NYC meet only exists because they really want one in the world's premiere cities. Not because it's a well-presented meet.

Attendance Observer wrote:

Eugene filled up Hayward Field

Not for NCAAs. The final day it was not close to sold out and they didn't have the temporary seats they did at Pre.

Yes, Eugene is better than most cities. But it's only about 3-5,000 Eugene faithful that are track fans.

Tract Town is a nike/oregon recruiting myth. Football is #1 in Eugene.

No one outside of the "running community" had any idea the adidas meet in NYC even existed. I asked several folks who might have been interested, but they didn't know. I didn't perceive any ad campaign at all.

Not A Duck wrote:

Tract Town is a nike/oregon recruiting myth. Football is #1 in Eugene.

Which football?

We're going to build a bonfire

Put Seattle on the top

Put Vancouver in the middle

And burn the bloody lot

PT FC!

Weary wrote:

No one outside of the "running community" had any idea the adidas meet in NYC even existed. I asked several folks who might have been interested, but they didn't know. I didn't perceive any ad campaign at all.

And this is the problem. No marketing of the sport.

I also think that they have to race more- back in the day (70's/80's) when track was more popular they raced more often- road races, track races, etc- the athletes raced more often keeping their names in the news.

Track fields were smaller- no 14+ fields in the distance races. 8 guys who we all knew.

Weary wrote:

No one outside of the "running community" had any idea the adidas meet in NYC even existed. I asked several folks who might have been interested, but they didn't know. I didn't perceive any ad campaign at all.

THIS RIGHT HERE. Nobody knew.

DLs are meant as little TV meets to fill the boredom of early European summers. In the USA, DLs have never been a big deal and never will be.

who cares? diamonds are just a short, small insignificant meet.

They SOLD over 17,000 tickets at the CA state meet. Maybe they should learn how to run a meet.

Probably just because there were 17000 relatives to watch their kids in this crowded ass state.