The Diamond League off to bad start?

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: Diamond League date conflict

IAAF Diamond League 2010 Calendar:
New York (USA) - Saturday, June 19

2010 Nike Outdoor Nationals competition is also scheduled for June 19, known for quite awhile

With both meets on USA east coast it would be nice for track fans / spectators if New York meet could be on Sunday, June 20.

I imagine that TV windows aren't so flexible.

[Paul Henry]

Point: America has TV
Point: America has tickets
Point: America has sponsorship
Point: America has ATHLETES
Point: Canada has TV
Point: Canada has tickets
Point: Jamaica has Athletes
Point: Jamaica has Sports Tourism
Point: Jamaica and Jamaican diaspora has Tickets
Point: Cuba is sleeping and is about to awake (sports tourism/athletes)
Point: A Doug logan model of US vs JA or a Battle Royale within NACAC is very interesting to sell.

[Paul Henry]

Berlin is obviously underating the worth of the NACAC here and its negotiating power. They just need to take a peek at penns and wake up and smell the Atalantic breeze.

[James Fields]

Diamond League date conflict

IAAF Diamond League 2010 Calendar:
New York (USA) - Saturday, June 19

2010 Nike Outdoor Nationals competition is also scheduled for June 19, known for quite awhile

With both meets on USA east coast it would be nice for track fans / spectators if New York meet could be on Sunday, June 20.

[justblaze1011]

:shock: OH MY GOD!!!! You mean to tell me that a track that uses bad wind gauges, not to mention runs on a short track is a part of the Diamond League??? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

How dare the IAAF do such a thing?? I believe they need to go over there and check out all equipment used plus re-measure the track....OH WAIT, THEY ALREADY DID THAT, thats why they were a saction(sp) IAAF Top Graded Grand Prix Meet.... :shock: :shock: :shock:

[Pego]

Do I understand it correctly that this 14-cities league will replace the Golden League? Or would some of the second tier cities form a new Golden League and so on through Super Grand, Grand...

[gh]

of major significance that there's no U.S. city on the TBC list for the second tier

[Marlow]

And now the IAAF 'claries' its intent on what 'The Circuit' is to them:

[excepted from http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15072009/ ... vents.html]

The dream scenario is to have the Diamond League and then area grand prix. This pool of meetings is to have a transition system to feed into the Diamond League. Germany, long an athletics stronghold, was the most notable absentee from the Diamond League schedule after Berlin Golden League meeting organisers said they would not join. Berlin would be part of the new second tier competition.

Among the other cities being considered are
Osaka
Ostrava
Hengelo
Melbourne
Dakar
Belem
Athens or Thessaloniki
Rieti
Kingston
Daegu
a location in South Africa and even Central America.

[dl]

I have no inside knowledge of the Berlin meet's attendance, but the stadium was mostly full, and from a friend who was there, the atmosphere was fantastic and the crowd very loud (especially for the women's HJ, understandably).

I do know that at least in 2007, the last time I was at the meet, DKB, the title sponsor then and now, ran some sort of promotion through its local branches whereby they offered a ticket and a bus ride to the meet for a relatively cheap price, helping pack the stadium.

I don't know what that did/does to the meet's bottom line, but it made for a large, boisterous crowd and a great meet.

[gh]

I'm told by a reliable source that Berlin's paid attendance (from a claimed attendance of 60,000+) was about 15,000. They apparently did a stunning job of papering the house. Their financial position is reportedly quite precarious, hence the not joining of the DL.

[Gleason]

It's a non-Olympic/Worlds year, but it's interesting to see New York the week before Nationals.

With Pre on July 3, the US domestic circuit will be pretty low-key for May and much of June apart from the adidas Track Classic.

Adidas may be replaced by a meet in Sacramento. I think that possibility was mentioned here. In addition, many meets are in Central and South America in May.

Because of New York why not have USAT&F limited to World Cup events? Eliminate multis and 10K, but add a 3K. Multis and 10K could be held with Marathon and Walks for U.S. Championships.

BTW because of the global recession, why not tighten the standard to World Ch "A"? In events where less than eight athletes have made the "A" make it top 8. USAT&F entry list is absurdly long.

[dl]

It's a non-Olympic/Worlds year, but it's interesting to see New York the week before Nationals.

With Pre on July 3, the US domestic circuit will be pretty low-key for May and much of June apart from the adidas Track Classic.

[tandfman]

With any luck at all Liu will be back on the track next year, and the stadium in Shanghai will be packed. I think there may be a few other Shanghai-based athletes who could be drawing cards as well and it's possible that even non-Shanghai Chinese athletes competing against Europeans, Americans etc. could attract a good crowd.

[gh]

I thought there would be an Asian or an African stop on the schedule.

Doha.

Qatar is not in Africa....I completely overlooked Shanghai. I think they should use the Bird's Nest again but who I am.

Bird's Nest faaaarrrrrr too large; crowd would just rattle around in there.

Shanghai already has decent history of putting on a world-class meet and selling tickets to it. (Although one does wonder what happens when Xiang Liu is no longer part of the equation.)

[Taliban]

I thought there would be an Asian or an African stop on the schedule.

Doha.

Qatar is not in Africa....

Of course not, but it's in Asia.

True I should have said Eastern Asia....