USATF should base their decisions on what the athletes and coaches want. For all of the belly aching on here about Eugene and attendance, what do the athletes want as far as facilities? There is no stadium like Hayward anywhere in the US. The question is, why has attendance dipped with the new stadium? Are the prices too high? Is it like MLB, NASCAR, movies, etc. that have declined?
The meet has been great so far. I’ve walked away from the first three days pleased with the performances and entertainment value. Once Saturday got rolling, it was non stop action. Today will be even better.
If the locals do not come out for this year’s Pre and support a DL two day event, then the moniker of “Track Town USA” should be forgotten, but again, no other city in the US has these facilities for athletics.
The consumers are the ones paying. It’s about them. No one forced the athletes to try and make a living at sports that aren’t popular in this country.
Either put on a more entertaining product or go away. I can assure you that had Taylor Swift played that Venue for 4 nights it would’ve been sold out.
Oregonians don't go to track meets in the Summer. They go camping, fishing, hiking, climbing, rafting. The mountains, the coast. This is nothing new.
Marty Liquori was right. Eugene is the Track Capitol of Lane County.
So how did the “Tracktown” myth start?
I referred to this in an earlier post. Track meets in Eugene were very well attended from probably the late 60s, or sooner, onward. It was in those years that people started calling it Tracktown. But the meets that drew so well were University of Oregon meets, dual and tri meets, Pac 8 (or 10 or 12) Championships, Pac 8 (or...) North Division Championships when those meets were at Hayward. Another poster mentioned that the Oregon/Oregon State dual usually drew bigger crowds than Worlds did last year. I think Liquori's comment referred to this, i.e. that the crowds were University of Oregon track fans rather than track fans in general. Yes, when NCAAs, AAUs (or whatever letters were in use), and Olympic Trials were at Hayward, there was always a goodly number of U of O athletes, current or graduated, competing. There have always questions about how well the locals would support a meet that didn't really seem to connect to the university's track teams,
USATF should base their decisions on what the athletes and coaches want. For all of the belly aching on here about Eugene and attendance, what do the athletes want as far as facilities? There is no stadium like Hayward anywhere in the US. The question is, why has attendance dipped with the new stadium? Are the prices too high? Is it like MLB, NASCAR, movies, etc. that have declined?
The meet has been great so far. I’ve walked away from the first three days pleased with the performances and entertainment value. Once Saturday got rolling, it was non stop action. Today will be even better.
If the locals do not come out for this year’s Pre and support a DL two day event, then the moniker of “Track Town USA” should be forgotten, but again, no other city in the US has these facilities for athletics.
I'm curious to see what attendance and the stadium look like today. We bought tickets yesterday for the upper deck along the home straight and there were very few tickets available to purchase. It seemed similar for yesterday, but then it looked like there were quite a few open spaces.
USATF should base their decisions on what the athletes and coaches want. For all of the belly aching on here about Eugene and attendance, what do the athletes want as far as facilities? There is no stadium like Hayward anywhere in the US. The question is, why has attendance dipped with the new stadium? Are the prices too high? Is it like MLB, NASCAR, movies, etc. that have declined?
The meet has been great so far. I’ve walked away from the first three days pleased with the performances and entertainment value. Once Saturday got rolling, it was non stop action. Today will be even better.
If the locals do not come out for this year’s Pre and support a DL two day event, then the moniker of “Track Town USA” should be forgotten, but again, no other city in the US has these facilities for athletics.
Don’t you get it? There’s a core group of loudmouth Let’s Run weirdos that hate the sport, hate the athletes, and post here just to crap on everything.
I read through this long thread while relaxing in Eugene before the meet this evening and after a group run here this morning with about 100 other runners in town for nationals. Wow, so much complaining and whining about USATF, Eugene, meet attendance, cost of hotels here, the low popularity of track in America, and on and on. Reading all that negativity, you'd think it's a miracle that me and my friends are having a blast here in Eugene.
All of you who think it's such a horrible decision to hold big meets in Eugene can stay home and whine while those of who actually come to Eugene enjoy watching great races in beautiful Hayward Field, morning runs on the bark paths at Pre's Trails, a plethora of great brewpubs and restaurants, group runs with other track fans, and fantastic weather for running and spectating (at least this week.) I sure wouldn't want to run in July in any of the hot, muggy other cities suggested in this thread as alternate locations for big summer meets!
I too found this whole thread disappointing. I love going to Eugene. Ran on Pre's trail, saw Pre's rock. Very knowledgeable track fans. Hayward is awesome.
The only thing that would change McDonald's hours would be a Trump convention. Maybe that would make them force their slave-labor employees to work overtime.
Be honest, I think east coasters just want the meets to be near them. I've looked at hotel prices in New York and Boston. Don't kid me about the prices.
It's fine to have a different opinion. As far as, "improve the product" and "nobody wants to watch skinny people run around in circles" - good grief, I thought this was a running website.
One poster commented about Kipchoge being a "household name" -because of big city marathons?? Have you ever brought up Kipchoge's name in conversation? I have because he runs as fast as I bike (13 mph) - and have been met with blank stares.
Now please explain to me why so many people want to sit in car exhaust and watch a Nascar race go around in circles while burning fossil fuel for no reason. That I don't get. I'd rather watch athletes exercise their bodies than drivers work the accelerator pedal.
I read through this long thread while relaxing in Eugene before the meet this evening and after a group run here this morning with about 100 other runners in town for nationals. Wow, so much complaining and whining about USATF, Eugene, meet attendance, cost of hotels here, the low popularity of track in America, and on and on. Reading all that negativity, you'd think it's a miracle that me and my friends are having a blast here in Eugene.
All of you who think it's such a horrible decision to hold big meets in Eugene can stay home and whine while those of who actually come to Eugene enjoy watching great races in beautiful Hayward Field, morning runs on the bark paths at Pre's Trails, a plethora of great brewpubs and restaurants, group runs with other track fans, and fantastic weather for running and spectating (at least this week.) I sure wouldn't want to run in July in any of the hot, muggy other cities suggested in this thread as alternate locations for big summer meets!
I too found this whole thread disappointing. I love going to Eugene. Ran on Pre's trail, saw Pre's rock. Very knowledgeable track fans. Hayward is awesome.
The only thing that would change McDonald's hours would be a Trump convention. Maybe that would make them force their slave-labor employees to work overtime.
Be honest, I think east coasters just want the meets to be near them. I've looked at hotel prices in New York and Boston. Don't kid me about the prices.
It's fine to have a different opinion. As far as, "improve the product" and "nobody wants to watch skinny people run around in circles" - good grief, I thought this was a running website.
One poster commented about Kipchoge being a "household name" -because of big city marathons?? Have you ever brought up Kipchoge's name in conversation? I have because he runs as fast as I bike (13 mph) - and have been met with blank stares.
Now please explain to me why so many people want to sit in car exhaust and watch a Nascar race go around in circles while burning fossil fuel for no reason. That I don't get. I'd rather watch athletes exercise their bodies than drivers work the accelerator pedal.
Why did the Diamond League want to get rid of the 5K?
Anyone who looks at it objectively knows it’s boring.
While not a big NASCAR fan, I am somewhat of a gear head and it’s a lot more impressive to watch 3000lb vehicles circle a track at 175-200mph than it is to watch 130lb dorks running at 13-15 mph.
I read through this long thread while relaxing in Eugene before the meet this evening and after a group run here this morning with about 100 other runners in town for nationals. Wow, so much complaining and whining about USATF, Eugene, meet attendance, cost of hotels here, the low popularity of track in America, and on and on. Reading all that negativity, you'd think it's a miracle that me and my friends are having a blast here in Eugene.
All of you who think it's such a horrible decision to hold big meets in Eugene can stay home and whine while those of who actually come to Eugene enjoy watching great races in beautiful Hayward Field, morning runs on the bark paths at Pre's Trails, a plethora of great brewpubs and restaurants, group runs with other track fans, and fantastic weather for running and spectating (at least this week.) I sure wouldn't want to run in July in any of the hot, muggy other cities suggested in this thread as alternate locations for big summer meets!
I too found this whole thread disappointing. I love going to Eugene. Ran on Pre's trail, saw Pre's rock. Very knowledgeable track fans. Hayward is awesome.
The only thing that would change McDonald's hours would be a Trump convention. Maybe that would make them force their slave-labor employees to work overtime.
Be honest, I think east coasters just want the meets to be near them. I've looked at hotel prices in New York and Boston. Don't kid me about the prices.
It's fine to have a different opinion. As far as, "improve the product" and "nobody wants to watch skinny people run around in circles" - good grief, I thought this was a running website.
One poster commented about Kipchoge being a "household name" -because of big city marathons?? Have you ever brought up Kipchoge's name in conversation? I have because he runs as fast as I bike (13 mph) - and have been met with blank stares.
Now please explain to me why so many people want to sit in car exhaust and watch a Nascar race go around in circles while burning fossil fuel for no reason. That I don't get. I'd rather watch athletes exercise their bodies than drivers work the accelerator pedal.
1. Nascar has been having thier own issues with dwindling attendance and crappy ratings. When tracks have reduced seating capacity to less than what it was before they started expanding, AND you are still not selling out, you know you have issues.
2. Hotel prices in the summer in NYC and/or Boston are high. Sure. They aren't any higher than Eugene. You have tons of hotel options. Outside of the trials/US champs you have tons of things to do, esp in NYC. World class food, diverse neighborhoods, etc. Multiple major airports with non stop service from literally every airport to one of those airports