Looking at the stands at USATF they are nearly empty. Even all my friends who do not run cant stand Track, they said it reminds them of their struggles in gym class.
Is their any hope?
It seems more like a hobby, than anything else.
Looking at the stands at USATF they are nearly empty. Even all my friends who do not run cant stand Track, they said it reminds them of their struggles in gym class.
Is their any hope?
It seems more like a hobby, than anything else.
I firmly believe that it is the lack of USATF trading cards which has lead to the unpopularity.
I think it mostly has to do with the number of big, fat, fatties in this country.
As a participant sport, it is very popular.
The best runners in the US are skinny uber-dorks, with lame on-camera presence, track athletes are fvcking nerds! Sorry losers, track and distance running sucks. Competitive marching band is more exciting than track.
As a pro sport it does not appear well organized. that could be improved. Also the sport requires so much preparation to peak properly. With the other major sports, people have to be fit but not superfit to compete every few days (basketball). It would be like a 3:50 miler being prepared to run 4:05's most of the year,
The losers here on Lets Run are the "hard core" track and field fans, and you losers can't even be bothered to fill one section of the desolate and empty stadium. You losers don't even like track and field, otherwise there would be butts in seats. Track's popularity starts with you, and well you can't be bothered to show up at the US Championships. You get what you deserve.
Well first off look at the responses given from the first 4 or 5 individuals to this post. With douchebags posting like this, it's no wonder no one takes this sport seriously. I think it's the lack of sponsorship, the lack of promotion and the mental aptitude required to participate in this sport.
You can't blame USATF alone, but it's an entire different amount of reasons
Nice that a guy calling himself Mike Honcho is trying to be the voice of maturity on this thread.
bubba smith jones wrote:
Looking at the stands at USATF they are nearly empty. Even all my friends who do not run cant stand Track, they said it reminds them of their struggles in gym class.
Is their any hope?
It seems more like a hobby, than anything else.
Here's quiz. How many people go to NASCAR, NHL, NFL stone cold sober? Very few. Why? When you're hammered you want to see real action, not some waif attempting the triple jump.
bubba smith jones wrote:
Looking at the stands at USATF they are nearly empty. Even all my friends who do not run cant stand Track, they said it reminds them of their struggles in gym class.
Is their any hope?
It seems more like a hobby, than anything else.
Your friends all struggled in Gym class? That's classic.
Reason #1 - NBC's coverage
Reason #2 - USATF choosing sites with predictably poor attendance.
Rarely do you have the top people go against each other. They often intentionally avoid each other and go to different races.
Often if you are looking for a fast race, middle distance or above, you need some third party runner who is going to drop out of the race. Otherwise, you have a relatively slow race that turns into a 1 lap or less race in reality.
I like the sport but track and field is also not a very spectator friendly event. Only way it is is if you follow the runners closely. Otherwise, it's pretty boring to watch.
Finally, with very few exceptions, the top runners don't go out and are not seen in public. Bolt is probably the most famous runner by far to the general public. After that, it may be a guy like Meb. Nobody in the general public knows who guys like Rupp or Lagat are and many may not even know who Meb is.
The answer to the subject line is, at least in part, because even the so called fans of the sport seem to spend the vast majority of their time crying about some perceived injustice.
"he's cheating!"
"she pushed me!"
Rotund, indolent Americans can't identify with the pain of running 5000 or 10000. Plus, their attention spans have been attenuated by our moronic Internet culture, incl, of course, social media. Require aerobic exercise in school and serve only whole foods, preferably plants. I remember how Eugene changed during my childhood when Bowerman brought back jogging from NZ. That was before McDonald's opened its first Eugene franchise. Give people tax breaks for being fit.
Team sports like baseball, football, basketball are popular because identify with the team from their town. It's a sense of pride in their community that drives support for the team. Why would someone identify with a lone runner at a track meet? People support the US at the Olympics, but that's all. Will never change.
I think it starts with a very, very generalized view of the sport: people running around in circles. My friends tell me they just don't want to watch something that boring. Football has plays/formations, with action happening in rapid series. The "big" sports are also easier to like because they are embedded in American culture: everyone likes some good ol football (not me however)! On the other hand, track has positioning/kicking, which doesn't sound that appealing because an outsider just thinks "Oh, he's running a bit faster now."
A person who grew up running distance/sprinting can easily become a fan because he/she can relate, but even then it may still be hard to watch. To combat this, I think people need to find athletes that they like. Following your favorite runner's progress and watching him/her succeed have their own merit. So, like everyone else said, we need distinguished personalities.
Better coverage/venues wouldn't hurt. I can't help but admire how beautiful the Oslo meet looked. The stadium for DL Monaco is also wonderful architecture.
Trsef wrote:
As a participant sport, it is very popular.
^This^
Who cares how popular or not it is among the masses?
Title 9 is the problem.
It doubled the amount of time required to host a meet.
Need to be able to make a 3 hour TV package.
That and color TV.
Look at all of the B&W photos of the USA vs USSR meets from the 1950's.
No women.
Stadium was packed. Rose Bowl or something.
Meets take too long. There's too much downtime without meaningful action. Even when a race is going on, all too often there's nothing special about any of the performances, unless you are intimately familiar with the athletes involved - context is important.
The sport is very healthy as a participatory sport, despite rapidly rising fees.
It doesn't have the mass appeal of many spectator sports, and I'm not sure the changes necessary to give it that kind of appeal would produce a sport I would still like.
I believe our efforts should be on running well-organized first class events for athletes, coaches, and the spectators who are already likely to attend. There's much to do to just accomplish that.
In my opinion, trying to make track and field a sport that appeals to the masses is a fool's errand.