If you were suppose to make a professional track and field league, what would it look like?
How different will it be from the current Diamond League?
If you were suppose to make a professional track and field league, what would it look like?
How different will it be from the current Diamond League?
Finisher’s medals for all!
Yes and free running T-shirts and refreshments.
The #1 athlete in each event gets a title belt. If someone beats them, that athlete gets the belt. Athletes can qualify to enter into races with the current champion based on performances in qualifying races. The champion must defend the belt at least once every 60 days.
This is really good Idea.
I like the track title belt idea.
I'd like to see professional teams face each other in dual meet or tri meet type situations, fight for league standings, etc.....
I think a lot of casual observers have an easier time getting behind a team v team scenario than a bunch of individuals who may or may not actually compete against each other. You might not get the A tier athletes on these teams, but the Single A baseball team in my town routinely draws 5,000 fans a night.
Have a college draft, have a fairly limited number of events per meet so that it moves along quickly.
The school where I coach is in a league that still does dual meets and our kids (and fans) get way more excited about trying to beat a league rival than they do about running a PR to take 17th place in some random invitational.
Agreed. Focus on team and a system for real-time scoring so it's both easy to follow and easy to understand what needs to happen for a team to win. Introduce primes in distance races so individuals can score points halfway through a race and keep things honest and interesting. Pull some from Nascar or international cycling as far as how teams are structured (brand-loyal sponsors and place-based team headquarters - i.e. a team from Boston, LA, etc. so fans can better identify and root for a brand/place). Start with simple dual/tri-meet structure w/ 4-5 dual meets and a championship with teams with the best record. And I hate to say it because I don't agree w/ Flotrack's model right now - but employ a Flotrack to base viewing on a live streaming platform with resident experts and fanatics providing commentary on each individual event live that you can toggle back and forth on your own or watch a main feed along with live scrolling data.
My roommate at DLI was 10th Mountain. Fight on, Brother!
Chickenboy Super League.
I will impose the requirement that top athletes need to compete in at least half of the meets in their primary events. Any one who fails to meet the requirement without legitimate medical proof should be fined.
I will also give bonus money based on the cumulative point total for the season to give more incentive to compete frequently. Maybe we can offer even more incentive by giving the top three in each event first round bye in the following year's World Championship.
They did try a league with dual meet type scoring. There was a draft & everything. I feel like even the athletes didn't take it seriously.
What we need is more top athletes competing head to head (& in their events). Last weekend, in particular, was a nightmare to follow. There were multiple quality meets. Take the women's 400m hurdles. You had that event in LA & on the Diamond League. Sydney runs (granted a blazing) the 200m. She can win multiple events so maybe not the best example but the dynamic is still strange. We know we're not seeing the best in the world compete until the World Champs/Olympics.
Would love to see a real draft & then a draft each year to add onto rosters. Let it work like other sports leagues. Not cutting it? Don't get signed. Athletes would have to be a big part of it & have a say in how much they make. Easier for those at the top to just keep this broken system in place & let a handful of the biggest meets invite whoever they want to race, knowing that fields will mostly be strong even if good athletes are missing. I do like domestic athletes getting a shot in their DL races or races taking chances on developing athletes.