So Cal had over 23,000 attend meets Saturday

[Kingspeed]

But not at the Adidas meet. There were at least 3k-6k attendees at each of the 4 CIF HIgh School championship preliminaries and likely 2500 or so at the Beg West meet in So Cal.

The empty stands at the Adidas meet hurt our sport and a casual fan would certainly assume it was not worth watching. Here is a quote from the Orange County Register covering the meet

"Even when he isn't racing Wariner, Merritt, who dethroned the Texan as Olympic 400-meter champion last year, seems ever-present.
Take the Adidas Track Classic at a largely empty Home Depot Center on Saturday evening, for example"

This meet should come earlier to avoid this conflict as the most rabid fans and ones who likely attend are involved or have family involved at the HS meets.

Do you not think it would be great to offer on an eariler or later weekend with student tickets. And if earlier in the year add a small HS section with one or two featured relays in the main meet.

Maybe even a collegiate 4x1 or 4x4 showdown to create some buzz of head to head competition.

Football, Basketball etc thrive on competing while track and field get away from it by chasing records and not head to head competition that focuses on victories and not records.

Very seldom are any records broken in other sports but it does not take away from the fans enjoyment.

We need to rethink where we have gone with our sport.

No, we would rather have ....

Our sport has the highest level of participation in HS athletics but we do nothing to truly promote it.

[Gleason]

Report here stated that Adidas meet may not be held again just as Modesto has been changed to Sacramento for next year.

Instead of earlier have it later. Many meets in Latin America are held in the first weeks of May, so Carson, Modesto or Sacramento could be the week before Reebok.

That week is the break beore NCAA regionals and fewer high school meets are scheduled.

[dl]

Report here stated that Adidas meet may not be held again just as Modesto has been changed to Sacramento for next year.

Instead of earlier have it later. Many meets in Latin America are held in the first weeks of May, so Carson, Modesto or Sacramento could be the week before Reebok.

That week is the break beore NCAA regionals and fewer high school meets are scheduled.

There are still plenty of HS meets that weekend, not the least of which is the Southern Section Divisional finals (on the Saturday).

If the meet is moved to Sacramento/combined with the old Modesto, then the Saturday might not be bad, as there should be only one Sac-Joaquin divisional championships that Saturday (the others are usually Friday, I believe).

The "simple" thing would be to hold the meet on a Sunday (as it has been on at least a few occasions).

[bad hammy]

Combine with the old Modesto meet and move it to Sacramento's Hughes Stadium (not Hornet Field) on the Saturday after the CA high school state meet (June 13th this year), two weeks before nationals. Also move the Golden West Invite back a day to Sunday (June 14th this year), and move it back to Hughes Stadium, so that a built-in fanbase is already in town.

[bruce3404]

The attendance sure looked terrible on TV. Having grown up in LA when a population of less than half of what it is today could put 50,000 fans in the Coliseum for a meet, it depresses me to see the sad state of track and field in a town that used to support it very well. The answer is to build it back up by encouraging youth to go to meets, and if that means heavily dis-counted tickets
(say, a Family Pack for $20 that brings in two adults and 4 kids), so be it. Those 10,000 or so empty seats brought in zero revenue.

[Trackfan310]

Aside from the schedule, Part of the issue was the price and promotion. As a former athlete, and someone who had friends competing in the meet, I did not even realize the date of the meet until 2 weeks prior. Also, the pricing was absurd considering this is a sport that needs to DRAW fans in this country. $40 for preferred seating ($25 for regular) with $15 to park? The casual fan is not likely to spend $175 (family of 4) for a meet they can watch on TV in the US. Meet promotors (and Cal St. Dominguez) need to realize that Track and Field is not Football or Basketball and price accordingly. I was at the meet, and the crowd was sad considering the level of competition as well as the accessibility of the athletes.

[Gleason]

Combine with the old Modesto meet and move it to Sacramento's Hughes Stadium (not Hornet Field) on the Saturday after the CA high school state meet (June 13th this year), two weeks before nationals. Also move the Golden West Invite back a day to Sunday (June 14th this year), and move it back to Hughes Stadium, so that a built-in fanbase is already in town.

Berlin GL is that week in 2009. Diamond League will be in effect in 2010, so this is too late. One week later preferably on sunday is ideal IMHO.

[knite]

Simply put, these sponsors and organizing committee's need to stop fooling themselves and produce a top flight meet on the east coast.

Every yr we see these types of things, where as on the east coast, if you put on a great event, the track fans will show.

Tons of fans over here and from all parts of the globe as well!

[bruce3404]

Simply put, these sponsors and organizing committee's need to stop fooling themselves and produce a top flight meet on the east coast.

Every yr we see these types of things, where as on the east coast, if you put on a great event, the track fans will show.

Tons of fans over here and from all parts of the globe as well!

You've got one in NYC on May 30. I've noticed that the top price ($60) tickets sold out. They must be using some sort of ticket price allocation system, because when I bought mine in the same area last month, it was only $40.

[Gleason]

Simply put, these sponsors and organizing committee's need to stop fooling themselves and produce a top flight meet on the east coast.

Every yr we see these types of things, where as on the east coast, if you put on a great event, the track fans will show.

Tons of fans over here and from all parts of the globe as well!

In 2010 Pre & Reebok will be part of the Diamond League, so two "top flight" meets should result. The other meet will probably compete with Diamond League meets which may begin with Doha on May 14, 2010.