CO Coach I like a lot of what you are saying, but there is a problem with keeping all ages engaged at all levels:
Track is HARD.
Golf isn’t. Increasingly popular curling isn’t. Soccer you can rest. Tennis can be played easy and still have drama. Cycling, you can coast and spin. Skiing you can glide. Football is mostly standing around.
Track, gymnastics, weightlifting, speed skating, etc are all way too hard for most people to enjoy. The only variants of hard sports that survive and thrive are the easy variants: hobbyjogging, yoga, aquatics, etc.
Few and far between are those of us nuts who like to go hard.
Track was only popular because it was school vs school, or globally countey vs country—but even at that, it was the unknown that made it exciting. Now that we see everyone all the time, many competitions are a fait accompli. The only things that now keep it surprising are injury status and doping.
I agree that track should abandon tv and move to the web. I also think that relay competitions should be emphasized more.