The crux of this whole argument is that track the way it is setup now is boring. I spent last weekend at a meet where we arrived at 9am and left at 7pm, and I consider us lucky for getting out of there so early. There were times were nothing was going on. There are a bunch of individuals chasing times for their respective conference meets, or running off events to tune up, non of this was exciting to anyone outside of those programs. My dad, who is a huge sports fan and a track fan came to watch my kids run and after 2 hours and several 400 heats later, stood up and said, I can’t take this anymore I’m going home, I honestly wish I could have gone with him. Its hard to get fired up about a meet where there is nothing of value on the line.
Wise’s said “This is a problem all of us in the world of track understand - unfortunately the people who decide if we are going to be relevant are NOT track people and we need to makes sure we are thinking of how to get those people watching.†I agree with this 100% We need to find a better way to market and promote our sport to people in the sporting world, not just track purists. I agree with Coach Wise and think that having team scored meets is something that communities, fans, students, faculty and staff can all get behind. You go to a meet you compete hard, you have a winner and a loser. Using this is the way we have always done it is going to make our sport disappear. Track and field budgets are huge, we use a lot of expensive equipment, we have multiple expensive facilities most of the time and we bring very little back to the institution, we need to change that in some way shape or form.
Someone else said “but the problem is Title 9- it's easy to field a full team entry for a women's team- but relatively hard to field a full entry for a men's and stay compliant.†This is not true.
I coached at a Division I school that had 5 men’s scholarships and we had a full well rounded team, we even won a conference championship last outdoor season. You have to go out and find some kids you can develop to score at the conference level on very little or no money at all. Is it hard yes, do you have to be careful who you give your money to yes, can it be done yes.
We need change in our sport, our current model is not a good one. I think team is a great way to go.