Every popular sport in America on TV (minus golf) is a team sport and running can be this! You can organize it in one of two ways:
1. Offer small individual prize purses for the top 10 or so (50%) and offer the other half of the purse to be split among the top team (5 finishers based on place). Teams are divided by their shoe sponsors. If Hansons is so blue-collar, send them out running for Brooks and clean up every USATF championship or major regional race. A company like Asics with just a few major athletes will pony up money to fill out its roster so it isn't getting buried by Nike's Kenyan horde at every race. Great runners will be forced to race to represent their shoe companies on American soil in races that are promoted/seen. You can then keep total standings for a grand prix series by team with a team purse at the end. People will begin to recognize and root for teams and teams are much easier to promote!
**Teams could draft runners out of college, pay them/provide them with just enough to survive early on, and up their pay based on performance on the circuit. What 30min 10k guy wouldn't die for the chance to train and race for 2 years with food/housing/med insurance/travel paid for? That is just a drop in the bucket for these companies and you could pressure them into providing it by embarassing them with standings/results after every race on the circuit without getting their approval. Force them to field a squad!
****Finally, in Olympic years/world championship times, adjust the circuit just like soccer leagues do for the World Cup and for qualifiers.
2. Same but organize it with training groups/clubs (Team MN, Zap, etc.)
Finally, as a personal pet peeve, give your stars a uniform that stands out! How the hell are we supposed to identify our stars when they dress exactly the same as every other runner sponsored by the same company. I should be able to buy a Ryan Hall or Alan Webb singlet. For his entire career with Nike, Webb should race in the same unique singlet so anyone can pick him out. Put his name on the back even, damnit. Think about when Abdi or Meb runs a major marathon or big race; seriously, fans of the sport have a hard time picking them out, what about the average joe trying to pay attention? This is about branding!!!!