Just turned on the tv, I thought the Trials were almost sold out. Why are the stands nearly totally empty?

NYC hosted it. Back when Dan and Dave were nationally known in an ad campaign. Huge city, anemic attendance. I was there. Pathetic site as well. Sacramento more full, but horrible sit for spectators. I was not a fan of the Eugene rebuild. Until I went. High up and it was the single best track and field spectating experience I ever had. Go to a meet and come back and tell me it’s in the wrong place. Last rows and we felt like we were right in the action.

I was there for world champs, the seats are VERY hot on the unshaded side. Its a massive design flaw of the stadium depending on time of day. I got up and walked to prevent overheating. There were a ton of people in the concouse and outside the stadium as well. I suspect that is partially what's happening now.

If you saw the rolling overhead camera shots last night you could see people filled in exactly on the outline of the shade. There's not a ton of wind in there....its hot AF.

Okay I stand corrected. An east coast city might not draw as many people—it was long before my time that NYC hosted USAs. But my guess is that there are a good amount of people like me, who would make a roadtrip out to see USAs if they weren't on the other side of the country.

I personally like the side with Sade in it. Lover her voice. Day 2 had a lot of people for the second day. I have tickets but wasn’t able to make it for Day 1, may only be at 4 of the days. This is the best facility the US has. The main sponsor of the event built this place. Stop with the whining about empty seats you see on tv.

USATF had 1121 declared entrants for this year’s Olympic Trials, with a small number of those declared in more than one event.

Was there last night and was actually surprised how packed it was. No empty seats in the west side or curve. People were just trying to avoid the hot sun on the east side (those bleachers are smaller too). Super cool facility.

I was actually quoting what Craig Masback, former USATF President, told me when I questioned one of my athletes missing a standard by .03 and seeing empty lanes in 1st round that he could have easily filled and improved on his performance but instead was denied an opportunity for that reason. At the time, I thought he was a little lawyer weenie for handling my question that way.

Todays adoption of not allowing performances by nonsanctioned USATF/WA meets furthers USATF attitudes about growing the sport. The hs kids meeting the standard but not included in the trials are denied a great opportunity to grow. They arent going to interfere with the meet in a negative way and always got huge support by the fans.

USATF has turned to an elitist view and thats their choice under their mission but it only hurts the future of the sport both down on the track and in the stands. As long as we can find enough outstanding athletes to work within their system, produce gold medals and create faces that look great every 4 years on NBC, bring in a lot of $$$ for advertising that justifies who they are. They arent interested in expanding the field to "All-Comers" status regardless of empty lanes in the first round. The athletes must meet their standards which is fine. My athlete was a good athlete, just not good enough at the time.

Its a sport for everyone but just not at the top. The fans just need to decide if it's worth the trip or not to them at a personal level.

to some level I agree. When a person from our hometown makes it to the trial - even with no chance of really making it out of semi's, our local TV news does two - three snip its and interviews, the paper does long articles, facebook for all of those shares the story multiple times. People actually know the olympic trials are actually on. I know co workers that talk to me about the girl from another school or local college competing. It grows the sport, hs kids log on to watch.

It also brings more fans to the stadium, families, college teammates, ect. As much as people don't like noah lyles and his interviews ect... he understands his job is to help grow the sport. So many distance runners don't seem to care about that. I'm from NY, have followed Katelyn Touhy since 7th grade, it's hard to be a full fan as there is no connection or substance to her. She doesn't post, doesn't really do interviews, seems pretty quiet (seems like a great person) but as a fan it's hard to really be interested in her performances, heck she is a pro, been hurt for 7 months, randomly runs the trials with no updates. Hard to care as a fan about an athlete like that. Doesn't grow the sport when people disappear for 7 months.

When USATF doesn't care about growth or seem to have a plan about how to grow the sport and the athletes don't seem to care about there role in helping grow the sport it seems we can't complain if there are empty seats in the stands