I know this is an oldthread, but if you told me they were going to cut an unspecified number of events, but they would let me submit my reverse priority list, here is what my list of first to cut would look like:
1) hammer. Nobody care about this event. At most college stadiums it is contested somewhere across campus so it doesnt mess up the football field, and nobody can be bothered to walk over there. It isnt done in high school anywhere, so the number of casual fans is extra small. It seems pretty obvious this one could disappear like a tree falling in a forest
Long gap
2 and 3) both race walk events. The long gap is because the race walk crowd is like the ultra runners of the track community: they think they're a legitimate part of the crowd, but nobody else down. Any suggestion that they're being disrespected or mocked and suddenly you have to hear about it forever. Maybe if my list has a long gap, I won't have to hear about it as much when they get the axe. Plus, hey look, I put hammer to be cut first so i cant be that biased against the race walk, right? I lumped them together so that even if only two events are being cut, both racewalks are guaranteed to be gone. I cant believe national associations are wasting money sending these broken-hipped monstrosities
4) triple jump: it was hard to choose between this and javelin, but javelin in is the decathlon, and triple jump isnt. They're kind of equally fringe, but decathlon draws a little attention from casual fans who know what it is in theory, but only watch it during the Olympics. Dumping javelin erodes the decathlon slightly as an event, so triple jump is higher on my list.
5) javelin: would be a bit sad to see if go, because people can really launch these things, plus people can sort of relate to the basic instinct of hurling a pointing object as far as possible. However. when I was a decathlete, this event really exacerbated a preexisting shoulder injury from crashing my bike.
6) 400mh. Fun event that i have a lot of respect for, but the 110hh gets more immediate interest from casual fans.
7) 200: somewhat redundant. I put it this low on the list because it had the potential to create some storylines about the meeting of top 400 and top 100 runners in a middle ground where anybody could win. This helps augment the story you're trying to sell and create some interest
8) 5,000: I'd cut the 5 before the 10 for casual fans, they're both long and boring. For serious fans, the 10,000 has twice as many opportunities for drama and excitement. If they end up with a slow tactical race, somebody usually loses patience and breaks about the same point in the race on a percentage basis, so on an absolute basis, we end up with a little longer period of drama in the 10,000.
9) high jump: pole vault is sexier. Higher heights, poles breaking, etc. Pole vaulters tend to be more attractive than high jumpers these days, who have become increasingly tall and rail thin over the years. High jump is this low on the cut list because it is so easy to keep in and takes only a bit of time to cover, so I figured strategically maybe they'd end up cutting one fewer if they came up against the HJ as their final cut.
10) 3k streeple: interesting to track fans, but we dont have many left to cut, so its next
11) 1500. Weve still got the 800 and 10,000 left at this point. 1500 is too annoying to explain to my friends how it isnt quite a mile. If it was a mile it would staylonger, but it is just too awkward of a distance. Even a 1600 would be better since at least it is an even number of laps.
12) discus. Shotput is more primal and relatable, the basic concept isnt hard to grasp, you can watch it all in one camera shot as well, so it gets to be the last throw in the mix, so sorry discus, you're out.
13) 800. Weve got the 10,000 still here, so we havent lost every distance fan yet. The 800 isnt really doing anything for us the other events arent doing at least to an extent.
14) pole vault. Its a sexy event, but we are now down to this, lj 10k, 400, 100, and shot put, and I had to choose one. The lowish hs participation makes this one the next to go.
15and 16) lj plus 400. We still had 2 sprints, and we have to cut the 400 before the 100, so 400 is gone. Lj is lumped in because I couldn't break the tie. They're both high participation in high school, lots of people can relate.
17) shotput. It's now just track, no more field.
18) 10k: we only have the 100 and the 10k left. Obviously the 100 gets to be last man standing over the 10k.
19) now we cut the 100 and nothing is left. No more track and field.
Of course the marathon is still left, but I dont count that. It is literally the heart of the original modern Olympics story/myth