Footlocker and NXN should merge.

Both races are all about attracting attention to their brand it's what we call in the real world ADVERTISING.

Why would they merge they gain nothing by such a move.

Keep them separate. One team championship race, one individual championship race. Footlocker should extend individual invitations to the top 10 or so NXN finishers, though. No reason you couldn't increase the FL field from 40 to 50 or 60.

Why would Footlocker extend an invitation to the top NXN guys when the top guys in the country are at Footlocker and everyone recognizes that it has always been the way? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

the two races have different character - strengths, quirks, appeal

when you merge, that is lost

The argument for extending the invites for FL should be only on time at nationally recognized courses to ensure you got the same dist.

Some years you have regional weaknesses so just moving from 10 to 30 could be detrimental. Crowds on tight turns lead to worse finishes for the top performers.

I sort of like it as it is but I appreciate your point of view.

suis non wrote:

Footlocker should extend individual invitations to the top 10 or so NXN finishers, though.

Interesting idea. I really don't care about high school team competition, but I do pay attention to match-ups of the top individuals, and it's disappointing when some of the very best are absent from Footlocker. Even extending invitations to the top three NXN finishers might be enough to renew Footlocker's credibility as the unofficial national high school championship. I don't know if Footlocker has any concerns about implicitly acknowledging the quality of the top finishers at NXN, but at this point, I'd probably be more concerned about losing the war altogether. Footlocker can always decide to yank the NXN invitations in later years.

I appreciate all the responses. You all brought up things I didn't think about.

They are totally different races and they are good together.

An idea would be make nxn earlier and then use the top 10 to go to footlocker automatically. The footlocker meets could be on the same day. The issue would be conflict with state meets, but they can change their dates.

NXN could be like Nov 25th ish and then foolocker could be dec 10 ish, that way you could have nxn qualifying meets nov 10th ish

The NXN west regional finished on a FuKKing TRACK!! A Track. Can you believe that. I mean its supposed to be CROSS COUNTRY and they are finishing on a TRACK? Are you serious? A TRACK? I mean it's a track. You can't finish on a TRACK when you are running XC.

Al Iverson........ wrote:

The NXN west regional finished on a FuKKing TRACK!! A Track. Can you believe that. I mean its supposed to be CROSS COUNTRY and they are finishing on a TRACK? Are you serious? A TRACK? I mean it's a track. You can't finish on a TRACK when you are running XC.

You mad bro?

I do not notice any increase in people entering our store, or in sales immediately around FL XC championships - but its a little tough to tell since the holidays are approaching. I'm in college and have been working at FL since junior year in HS part-time. I'll be there this afternoon! Anyhow - I don't think FL gets real advertising return on this XC investment. We sell a good deal of running shoes, but mostly to people over 30 years old or really young kids. Maybe sponsoring this race helps bring these types in the store as well, but I doubt most of them even know that the race exists. I know that most of the fast HS and post-college runners in our area go to a couple local running specialty shops for their shoes, or just order online.

FL seems to make most of their money selling overpriced branded t-shirts, baseball hats, basketball shorts, and basketball shoes. I have fun working there, but I would not be surprised to see FL fold-up shop in a few years, in which case they will stop sponsoring the race. If so, this will all be a moot point, as we will only have NXN unless another company chooses to pick-up the sponsorship after FL.

suis non wrote:

Keep them separate. One team championship race, one individual championship race. Footlocker should extend individual invitations to the top 10 or so NXN finishers, though. No reason you couldn't increase the FL field from 40 to 50 or 60.

The problem is- if a great individual is on a great team he/she will run Nike.

In some regions you can't do both.

Check out the FL NE Regional- how many "significant" NYers ran?

I think almost none.

notbroke wrote:

Why would Footlocker extend an invitation to the top NXN guys when the top guys in the country are at Footlocker and everyone recognizes that it has always been the way? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Simply not factually correct. Not saying that FL hasn't been a little deeper on the guys traditionally, but not all of the top boys do FL. And on the girls, it's certainly in NXN's favor in recent years.

I like the idea of extending invites to top individuals, particularly in the west. It would make it so top individuals wouldn't have to decide between FL qualifying or racing NXN. I'd like to keep them separate. However, I'm not sure how much longer FL will keep up the race. I'd be shocked if it did anything material for their brand. I watch every year and can't remember if the last time I went in one of their stores. They should probably try to find a shoe company to partner with. It's likely much cheaper to put on the NXN due to the lower # of individuals and no teams.

mkng1 wrote:

I like the idea of extending invites to top individuals, particularly in the west. It would make it so top individuals wouldn't have to decide between FL qualifying or racing NXN. I'd like to keep them separate. However, I'm not sure how much longer FL will keep up the race. I'd be shocked if it did anything material for their brand. I watch every year and can't remember if the last time I went in one of their stores. They should probably try to find a shoe company to partner with. It's likely much cheaper to put on the NXN due to the lower # of individuals and no teams.

defiantly cheaper- 80 vs 360 people, heck yeah, its basically a normal race but they pay for hotels and flights and stuff for the kids, probably not more than 3k per kid, thats only 240k, for such a big company

Avocado's Number wrote:

I really don't care about high school team competition, but I do pay attention to match-ups of the top individuals, and it's disappointing when some of the very best are absent from Footlocker. Even extending invitations to the top three NXN finishers might be enough to {enhance] Footlocker's credibility as the unofficial national high school championship.

I watch the NXN team races, primarily for the individuals at the front, but don't like the team concept, and much prefer the way Footlocker does their races. Even so, extending invitations to the top three at NXN would only increase the fields from 40 to 43. I think they had a similar agreement right after splitting, but it didn't work out.

Lol, the fl west regional at mt.sac finished on the track as well - the last 300m

Footlocker would fold their race up and hand it over to Nike in a heartbeat if Nike wanted that. Footlocker as a corporation would last only about six more months if Nike no longer wanted them as a prime vendor. When Nike snaps their fingers, Footlocker jumps. It's a symbiotic relationship where Footlocker does a lot of Nike's dirty work.

It's funny. I've read these same posts since year one of NXN. Both race are great. Let them both do their thing.

They could easily make it so that going to both would be possible. Do all FL Regionals on one week, all Nike Regionals on another. Same with the Nationals. Boom.

mkng1 wrote:

They should probably try to find a shoe company to partner with.

Right now they are with New Balance, they were with Asics for a good number of years, and they might have been with saucony at one point too. Have you even paid attention???