There is currently no indoor facility in the state of Oregon. A couple years ago when we hosted the world indoor championships we had the house of track and then the track was moved to the convention center for the world championships. The track was then sold to the University of Iowa. My question is why did the University of Oregon not purchase the track and place it in Mac Court?
As far as I know, nobody is using the old basketball arena for anything. The basketball and volleyball teams moved out of there and into Matthew Knight Arena in 2011. Imagine having track meets at Mac Court! Having USAs and NCAAs, big pro meets and other collegiate competitions there would have been amazing!
Is this something that can still be done? There's a structure already in place, all you would have to do is remove the lower level of the bleachers and it would be able to fit a 200m track.
Bring Indoor Track to Oregon!
University of Oregon Indoor Track Facility
Report Thread
-
-
I assume most likely would not fit.
-
Iowa outsmarted Oregon. The track has been a huge boost for the team. They now host several home meets, one of which will be on Flotrack this weekend. Many professionals competed at the meet last year.
-
The Worls Indoor track was pre-sold to Iowa before it was even assembled in Portland. I’m sure Oregon had the chance to buy it in advance but the organizers were happy to have a buyer before the event started.
As someone else said, the track wouldn’t have fit at MAC Court. A 200m track wouldn’t even fit at Memorial Colliseum in Portland. Many people have worked to make that venue work over the years but the geometry just doesn’t work.
The success of the House of Track as it was called surprised a lot of people. Once the world champs ended a lot of the track community were disappointed to see the trackngonand the interest in a new venue has increased. I know of two groups working on a track in Portland and I’ve seen plans for a track at the Holister Trail at Nike.
Seeing the success of the Dempsey facility in Seattle it seems like an easy sell that a indoor track in Eugene or Portland would be well used but I’m not sure if it would be profitable. I can’t remember the dollar figure but I was blown away by how much it cost just to get the building up to code for the House of Track venue in Portland.
Any financially viable indoor track facility would have to serve several sports and be run year-round. -
Oregon Indoor wrote:
Any financially viable indoor track facility would have to serve several sports and be run year-round.
Lets be honest, Universities don't give a sh*t about being financially viable...BUT...
The latest trend is towards what you described...look at the number of "Fieldhouses" that are popping up (Especially on the Mid-Atlantic area of the US). Almost every one of these is hosting events year-round. Youth sports are a big, big, big revenue generator.
There is one in Hampton, VA called the "Boo Williams Sportsplex". That thing is hosting events daily and every weekend throughout the year. A good chunk of them involve participants/teams from out of the local area. This generates hotel room revenue, restaurant revenue, etc. Here's the specs:
The Sportsplex is a $13.5M 135,000 square foot multi-sport facility that contains:
eight hard wood basketball courts
a 6-lane indoor track
4,000 spectator seats
event operation center
trainers room
The facility can accommodate a multitude of sports such as:
Basketball
Cheerleading
Field Hockey
Lacrosse
Soccer
Track & Field
Wrestling -
Banked tracks are expensive. You don't need just the building to house it. The World championships track brand new is somewhere in the range of $5 or $6 million. Then it was sold at around half that to Iowa if I remember right because it was 'used'.
-
The Boston U indoor facility was $22 million.
-
Check out the Liberty U indoor facility.
http://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/index.cfm?PID=36722 -
Cost of the track wrote:
Banked tracks are expensive. You don't need just the building to house it. The World championships track brand new is somewhere in the range of $5 or $6 million. Then it was sold at around half that to Iowa if I remember right because it was 'used'.
According to this article the indoor track was $4MM and was sold for $2.6MM which included transport, installation, and extra lanes.
The Portland track was custom made on site. I have to believe that a standard quality track could be done for far less.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/ui-could-get-world-class-track-after-oregon-championships-20150305%3ftemplate=amphtml -
I'm glad Oregon doesn't have an indoor track. They host the outdoor championships (NCAA & USATF) too often as it is, it would terrible if they were always hosting every championship.
-
Spire in Cleveland is the best indoor facility in the country
-
Bob Schul Country wrote:
Spire in Cleveland is the best indoor facility in the country
Since it isn’t banked, it’s automatically disqualified from being the best. -
It’s not banked and in the middle of nowhere . No hotels / resteraunts etc . Nice complex . Great for viewing and plenty of seats . Just not a great location
-
The Portland track was assembled on site. It was pre-assembled and then taken apart in Latvia. Normally the entire track would have been completed before being shipped. This was done out of concern that the Russians might annex Latvia at that time, and there was concern that the container could be washed overboard while being transported to Portland.
There were a few extra costs associated with this, mainly staff from Latvia having to live in Portland for about a month as they reassembled the track, but those costs were not significant enough to make a standard track significantly cheaper. -
UP has an indoor track. Granted it majorly sucks, but it does have one!
-
You guys don't get snow, so who cares?
-
noMoreOregon wrote:
I'm glad Oregon doesn't have an indoor track. They host the outdoor championships (NCAA & USATF) too often as it is, it would terrible if they were always hosting every championship.
+1
The hotels and restaurants in Eugene suck, as does the weather. -
It would be nice to have a quick 200 meter indoor track in the Northwest. A lot of pressure on the Dempsey facility is making it difficult for athletes of reasonable quality to get into the UW meets. Not that I'm looking for all-comers meets, but it seems like the area could support another facility.
-
Eugene Duck Fan wrote:
There is currently no indoor facility in the state of Oregon. A couple years ago when we hosted the world indoor championships we had the house of track and then the track was moved to the convention center for the world championships. The track was then sold to the University of Iowa. My question is why did the University of Oregon not purchase the track and place it in Mac Court?
As far as I know, nobody is using the old basketball arena for anything. The basketball and volleyball teams moved out of there and into Matthew Knight Arena in 2011. Imagine having track meets at Mac Court! Having USAs and NCAAs, big pro meets and other collegiate competitions there would have been amazing!
Is this something that can still be done? There's a structure already in place, all you would have to do is remove the lower level of the bleachers and it would be able to fit a 200m track.
Bring Indoor Track to Oregon!
Because Oregon doesn't need an indoor track.
Before Hayward was torn down there was that practice straight away underneath the west grandstands. Across the river in the Cassanova/Mariota/whatever the heck its called they had an even longer track surface straight away for sprints. They just expanded it out this past year.
Distance runners here don't need an indoor track.
Agree, packing out Mac Court for indoor track would be awesome, but it is not anywhere near big enough. -
I believe WillamaLane Parks were conducting feasibility studies on building an indoor track according to an article I read in the Register Guard last year. A friend of mine who works for the county said they are eyeing the current transfer facility property in Glenwood, among other sites, which wouldn’t be more than a mile or so from campus. I got the impression from what I read that the parks department (maybe just Springfield parks) we’re driving the process, but I’m sure if it comes to fruition the university would be involved in some way.
With the Powells at UW with a great indoor facility, I would think UO would want to be able to compete with them for recruits in that regard. Sure you don’t “need” and indoor facility in Oregon, but it certainly would be nice on those days when it’s 35f and raining.
