To make running a real sport that > 1% of Americans enjoy watching, the central running hegemony needs to do all of the following at minimum:
(1) Get rid of all the "in between" distances such as 60m, 300m, 500m, 600m, 1000m, 2000m, 3000m, 6000m, 8000m, etc. There should only be the 100m, 200m, 400m, mile (I cover this more in my next point), 5000m, 10000m XC, and road marathon.
(2) For God's sake, unify the mile-ish event. It's so stupid that kids run the 1600m in high school most of the time, the 1609m a.ka. mile some of the time, in college they run the mile indoors and the 1500m outdoors, then in pros they run the 1500m and maybe once a year the "full mile". The only mile-ish event should be the mile.
(3) There need to be more elite road 5Ks like the Carlsbad one. Certify courses that go through famous, scenic places like over the Golden Gate bridge, through Central Park, Stonehenge, Mayan ruins, etc., and pay the pros to show up and run fast times. Most Americans are not even aware that there exists such a thing as a 5K on a track. The only time there should be a 5K on a track is for WR attempts.