Reason 9,876 Track and Field will never be popular again

[DJG]

How will you stagger all of those off-year regional championships? In the off-year, we have the Commonwealth Games, Euro Champs and Asian Games. I would think that the Pan-American Games should be moved to the off-year.

That's for them to work around. Sponsors putting up their money might like more
Consistent returns for their investment.

And here's a crazy suggestion.....screw the IOC, have a World Championship every year!

[Conor Dary]

That's for them to work around. Sponsors putting up their money might like more
Consistent returns for their investment.

And here's a crazy suggestion.....screw the IOC, have a World Championship every year!

Indeed....go all the way and be completely irrelevant...

Without track in the Olympics...the American networks, ie NBC will have little incentive to show any of the sport...

[tandfman]

I am wondering what attendance/ticket sales will be in DoHa? Can't imagine the average Track fan is thrilled with the location.

It's not just the location--the meet has been in distant places before. It's also the time of year, which is not ideal for many people because of work and/or family commitments.

[gh]

I am wondering what attendance/ticket sales will be in DoHa? Can't imagine the average Track fan is thrilled with the location.

average track fan doesn't go to teh OG/WC anyway

[Trickstat]

It's not just the location--the meet has been in distant places before. It's also the time of year, which is not ideal for many people because of work and/or family commitments.

In my experience the kind of people that travel to major Champs tend not to have school age children at home because they are older than that or have never had any.

Until very recently when visiting the website of the British Athletics Weekly, I regularly got a pop-up trying to sell tickets for the Doha Champs. This suggests to me that sales are not good.

[LuckySpikes]

How will you stagger all of those off-year regional championships? In the off-year, we have the Commonwealth Games, Euro Champs and Asian Games. I would think that the Pan-American Games should be moved to the off-year.

But then they'd be in the same year as the South American Games, the Central American & Caribbean Games as well as NACACs for athletics. It would be a difficult puzzle to solve!

As a huge fan of the European Championships I'd hate to see it devalued further (like it is in Olympic years) and it's interesting that, in Britain, I rarely (if ever) hear cries for an extra World Championship in what Americans call the "off-year". For European athletes, it most definitely isn't an off-year!

For me, the issue is not having another World Championships but rather, how do we get the biggest stars competing against each other more often? It's ridiculous that Thursday will be the first time that Benjamin has raced Warholm this year. And SMU hasn't raced Naser even once at 400 this year. Houilhan and Kipyegon have hardly raced anyone all year etc etc. The answer is definitely not the new World Rankings system as Seb Coe has suggested.

[CookyMonzta]

That's for them to work around. Sponsors putting up their money might like more
Consistent returns for their investment.

And here's a crazy suggestion.....screw the IOC, have a World Championship every year!

You might get your wish, if the IOC has an even bigger scandal that is big enough to bring the Olympics to an end. They might not make it to the XL Olympiad (2052).

[wamego relays champ]

For me, the issue is not having another World Championships but rather, how do we get the biggest stars competing against each other more often? .

That seems to be the point of the column referred to in the original post, which focuses on a consistent calendar and athlete appearances as the key.

…Somehow, sports that are individually focused like golf, tennis and MMA have managed to thrive without the Olympic Games or a world championship…

…the sport does not have the structure, promoters or drive to organize itself – starting with the athletes as a group – to present itself as a cogent entertainment program…

…a cogent calendar, devoted promotional efforts and finding the right people to play has served every successful sports entity well on the way to becoming a success for the promoters, players, broadcasters and an expanding worldwide audience…