NCAA T&F Championships to have men's and women's events on alternating days - what ?

What a terrible decision.

Are the Regionals changed as well?

Goldenboy wrote:

Who's brilliant idea was this ?

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/251077-News-from-the-Track-and-Field-World/article/29939-Changes-to-NCAA-Outdoor-Schedule-Approved-by-D1-Cabinet

Well, if you read the article it tells you exactly who approved the idea. Sounds like many coaches are on board.

My question: will the transgender athletes get to pick they days they compete on?

Well, if you read my post you would have seen that I asked \"Who\'s brilliant ideas was this?\" Not who approved the idea. You know why the coaches are on board ? Money. Someone has convinced them that having men and women compete on separate days will improve ratings. You know what would improve ratings ? Throw out all the same old tired broadcasters that don\'t know squat about the sport or the athletes competing and bring in some new blood. Merely changing the days that men and women compete won\'t do anything to the ratings.

You obviously haven't been around. This has been discussed for a long time. Best idea ever to try and bring some flow to the meet and keep things focused. The concern of doubling is a non-issue for most, as you distance guys have the 10k and 5k on different days. Few will do other than natural doubles which will work just fine.

The meet will actually be more entertaining and I hope that the time schedule will not have long "rest" periods between finals. Finals should move along as smoothly as possible, with one event and team score updates posted as the meet moves along.

This is by far the best idea in years, glad to finally see it being implemented.

I think a lot of the opinion on this new format will depend on what you are looking for out of this meet.

Purist fans of the sport will prefer a championship format where the best individuals excel in competition and events are scheduled based not on what is good for teams or for gender scheduling convenience.

BCS/power program institutions that are looking to contend for team titles and do not depend on distance events are undoubtedly the biggest proponents of this concept.

Personally I am not a fan. I go to track meets to see preferred events, not specific teams. I find that pairing men's and women's heats or finals of the same event is far more interesting than watching athletes from Univ of X race the 400m H then have their teammates follow in the 800m.

This format has been talked about for years among coaches and committees at the coaches convention. The format was one of a few suggestions from ESPN and others as a way to make the event more TV friendly. ESPN in particular told the association that this format would make them more likely to give the championships live tv time. It will make the team races easier to follow and the scoring plots easier to follow because you won't be bouncing from gender to gender. This format should also make it much easier for the average tv viewer who might just click over to follow and realize it's a national championship.

Let's see how it plays...(not like we have a choice).

It may actually be a better scenario. I know when I am at the women's meet, I won't miss the guys. And when I'm at the men's meet, I won't miss the women. I mean, I will enjoy both competitions.

The fact is, shifting from the men to the women then back to the men and then back to the women is somewhat disjointed. It's like watching a series of downs in football and then watching an inning of baseball.

Many years ago, most track meets were males only. They were good meets - they certainly could be staged in less time. It may well turn out that single gender meets are better spectator events than mixed gender.

I guess we will find out.

At least now we won't be forced to watch women's athletics.

thank the lord wrote:

At least now we won't be forced to watch women's athletics.

^^^^ you suck. What an awful thing to say!

I like it. A lot. Always had trouble keeping track of scoring. This will surely help.

At least paying customers that go to the meet won't be forced to sit through the women's events. If I want to watch someone run a 2:01 800 I'll go to a local JV HS meet thanks.

uglytruth wrote:

At least paying customers that go to the meet won't be forced to sit through the women's events. If I want to watch someone run a 2:01 800 I'll go to a local JV HS meet thanks.

Haha I was just thinking this kind of, but the opposite! On some years, I'd rather go to the women's meets (some years it is far more competitive) and would rather skip the mens. and I'm a guy

Well, the schools that win titles on the backs of their distance runners have now lost any hope of winning titles again. Say goodbye to repeating this year Oregon.

uglytruth wrote:

At least paying customers that go to the meet won't be forced to sit through the women's events. If I want to watch someone run a 2:01 800 I'll go to a local JV HS meet thanks.

Exactly, same reason I would rather watch a 12 yr old boys AAU team over the WNBA.

Finally, a lesbian spectator event we can all be proud of!

uglytruth wrote:

At least paying customers that go to the meet won't be forced to sit through the women's events. If I want to watch someone run a 2:01 800 I'll go to a local JV HS meet thanks.

It will be interesting to see the attendance numbers on each of those days.

It's worth trying, it's not like what we're doing is bringing in any great viewership.

If you've ever been to a track meet that is one gender it's pretty amazing at how quickly you can move through events. I used to go to one back in HS and it was a big change.

Why don't they just introduce the 1600 meter run while they're at it?