University of Oregon Indoor Track Facility

New banked hydraulic indoor track coming to Spokane in 2021.

A guy I sat next to on a plane five years or so ago that worked for Nike mentioned there was some Nike-owned land near the hq where they were exploring the idea of putting an indoor track on...but I guess it never came to fruition? It does blow my mind in ways because, as mentioned before, only indoor tracks are Dempsey, Boise, Pullman, Moscow, Pocatello - I guess there are several now that I think about it. Boise has hosted bigger meets as has Dempsey but one would think it would be beneficial to have one in Portland area (read: actual West Coast)?

The pac northwest could use another indoor track. A banked 200m would be a nice switch up from TheDempsey, which frankly isn't too sprinter friendly. Portland was the perfect place for it, but I'm also surprised UO doenst have one. It's not like they cant afford it.

Oregon did have at one time a Indoor Track facility back in the early 80's, majority was for high school. In addition, Portland in the 70's to early 90's had a Indoor meet in the Portland Coliseum.

Villard Street wrote:

A guy I sat next to on a plane five years or so ago that worked for Nike mentioned there was some Nike-owned land near the hq where they were exploring the idea of putting an indoor track on...but I guess it never came to fruition?

Weird. Maybe you were sitting next to me k. That plane. Earlier in this thread I mentioned that NIKE was looking at building on Hollister Trail. Also, I grew up on Villard.

Dr No wrote:

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

Eugene, Oregon is in the middle of nowhere far away from 97% of the country. Geneva, OH is easier to get to than Eugene. Eugene also only has a few nice hotels. Small town, in a small rural state, far from everywhere with crappy weather.

Okay, so the "Villard Street" is pure (albeit wild) coincidence as I lived there a few years ago. But, if you were wearing a Klamath Union/Falls top on that flight from SLC then yes it was me!

TrackFan19 wrote:

Dr No wrote:

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

Eugene, Oregon is in the middle of nowhere far away from 97% of the country. Geneva, OH is easier to get to than Eugene. Eugene also only has a few nice hotels. Small town, in a small rural state, far from everywhere with crappy weather.

Geneva OH has a population of 6000. Eugene is 25 TIMES bigger. It has a symphony, ballet, art museum, venues for nationally touring music, in addition to all the outdoor virtues. And I don't recall the last time it was -5 degrees... maybe never?

A few bits of history - the Memorial Coliseum used to be the venue for the Portland Indoor, back when indoor track actually mattered. Can't remember what the size was on that oval (maybe 165y?), but as a taller runner, definitely remember the banks were steep. Felt a little like roller derby when running the 1000.

I believe that Eugene used to host an indoor meet at the Lane County Fairgrounds - that was also back a ways - maybe ended in the 1990s?

Dempsey is a flat track and longer than normally certified as an "indoor" track - someone correct me if I'm wrong there, or if that's changed - and they've been grandfathered in. Not to mentioned, it's cramped in there - not exactly spectator friendly.

Now - Indoor Track in the Pacific NW West of the Cascades has never been a "thing" - even when there was the Portland Indoor, it was an after thought in the eyes of local HS & Colleges. I ran competitively in HS and college and a little post-college, lived in Portland and only ran a total of 10 indoor meets - which also included going over to Moscow, ID to run there a couple of times. And I loved indoors!

Weather is one factor - it doesn't really get that cold where you have to train indoors. History is another factor - HS and college teams in the area just don't seem to be that interested. Cost is now another factor with land/facility prices exceedingly high for trying to get enough space to build something.

All of that being said - I love indoor - and with Nike here, and Adidas North American HQ here, you'd think that one of them would want to "create" another season for local athletes, so they don't have to travel to Seattle or Moscow to run in an indoor meet. But it is about the almighty $ of course for them - so it would have to make business sense.

Oh - and before someone brings it up - UP doesn't count as an indoor meet facility. Yuck.