the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

[glimp5k]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

Next year's tentative DL schedule appears to be better. Three DL meets in July, Monaco being the last on the 20th, Olympic athletics Aug. 3 - 12, Stockholm DL on 8/17 followed closely by three more DL in August and Brussels on 9/7. I would imagine having the Games in Europe helps the scheduling situation.

[tandfman]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

....
Another point is that in many countries, national championships were held during that 20-day period. ...

If you call Finland, Norway, Sweden and Poland "many," yes. Otherwise, I believe there are none. At least not of nations worth international attention.

You're right--in my mind I was including the championships held the first weekend of the month, which was the same weelemd as the London DL.

[kuha]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

Next year's tentative DL schedule

Where did you find that?

[gh]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

i don't have it at hand, but pretty sure we printed it in the magazine months ago

[rainy.here]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

You mean on just the 5th of 19 days?

Are you kidding? That's it? I'm going to be like a little kid on a long drive.

Are we there yet?

[kuha]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

FYI:

SAMSUNG Diamond League - Calendar 2012 (as of 9th August 2011)
Doha – 11th May 2012
Shanghai – 19th May 2012
Rome – 31st May 2012
Eugene – 2nd June 2012
Oslo – 7th June 2012
New York – 9th June 2012
Paris – 6th July 2012
London – 13th & 14th July 2012
Monaco – 20th July 2012
Stockholm – 17th August 2012
Lausanne – 23rd August 2012
Birmingham – 26th August 2012
Zurich – 30th August 2012
Brussels – 7th September 2012

The perfect 2 week Euro holiday: a triple-header of Lausanne, Zurich, Brussels.

[tm71]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

Relying mainly on memory at this point, I gotta ask, is this year's schedule for August—when the sport is traditionally supposed to be at its strongest—the weakest it has ever been? Is this any way to promote the sport?

is that because AMATEURS still continue to run the sport ?
btw i dont like the schedule for the world championships itself either.

[gh]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

.....
The perfect 2 week Euro holiday: a triple-header of Lausanne, Zurich, Brussels.

Yes, John D. Rockefeller and Gordon Getty and I were talking about that just the other day :-)

That's my way of noting that I'm just back from a vacation that included a week in Switzerland, currently the land of the $1.40 Franc.

The costs would make your eyes bug out. (and I'm broke)

[Cam9412]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

Although some may not agree, compared to the recent seasons of track and field after the 2008 Olympics I feel like 2009 was a pretty good season including the World Championships.

[kuha]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

.....
The perfect 2 week Euro holiday: a triple-header of Lausanne, Zurich, Brussels.

Yes, John D. Rockefeller and Gordon Getty and I were talking about that just the other day :-)

That's my way of noting that I'm just back from a vacation that included a week in Switzerland, currently the land of the $1.40 Franc.

The costs would make your eyes bug out. (and I'm broke)

Yes, the dollar is crap; not a big surprise. I suspect that the euro is in for a decline, but who knows. When I first began going over there, it was about 1.50 SFR to the dollar; now it's nearly the reverse. But anyone waiting for the absolutely "perfect" time to go will probably never do it.

[Powell]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

the gap has "always" been too large, but I'm guessing this year's is about teh worst (in the modern "GP" era).

19 empty days between London and first day of Daegu.

Count in Berlin was only 14. It meant only one weekend without a presence. And that's more than enough travel/prep time for everybody. Particularly when, as noted earlier, the first day of the WC isn't the first day for all but a small portion of the competitors.

The gap is always shorter when the year`s major event is in Europe. I believe 2007 and 2008 had gaps pretty much like this year's.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

Relying mainly on memory at this point, I gotta ask, is this year's schedule for August—when the sport is traditionally supposed to be at its strongest—the weakest it has ever been? Is this any way to promote the sport?

I refer to the fact that if you look not just at the DL circuit, but at meets that used to be "Grand Prix" (so including the IWC circuit as well), this August gives us London and nothing more to go with the World Championships.

Or calling it "August" let's compare it to the last WC year, '09. These were the '09 meets: July 28 Monaco, July 31 Stockholm [insert World Champs], August 28 Zürich, August 31 Gateshead & Zagreb.

This year you need to go back go July 22 to find Monaco, then Stockholm on July 29, London August 5-6. Then after the WC you have to go all the way to September 8 for Zürich.

From Stockholm to Zürich means 3 invitational meets in 6 weeks. Is that enough to sustain fan interest when the season is supposed to be at its most exciting?

There are those who also argue that any meet after the WC is by definition somewhat anticlimactic. Although it certainly helps in the host cities in question to be able to trot out all the freshly minted new world champions, does it do much to further the sport's international image or does it just look like an exhibition tour?

Just doesn't seem like the kind of cohesive, well planned structure the sport needs.

It's no different than in 2007: London on Aug 3, Stockholm on Aug 7, and then nothing for 18 days until Worlds began on Aug 25. Then Zurich on Sep 7, Rieti on the 9th, Brussels on the 14th, ISTAF on the 16th and the WAF on the 22nd-23rd.

It's the way the season will be structured when the World Championships extend into September.

[gh]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

'07 was 17 days, not 18... This year is 19. Not much worse, but worse.

But what happened in '07 is irrelevant: if it was shit scheduling then, it remains shit now. And not good for the sport. That's the bottom line we should be worried about.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

'07 was 17 days, not 18... This year is 19. Not much worse, but worse.

But what happened in '07 is irrelevant: if it was shit scheduling then, it remains shit now. And not good for the sport. That's the bottom line we should be worried about.

All that the Diamond League General Assembly and World Challenge meetings can do is react to the dates set for the IAAF World Championships, the European Championships, and the Olympic Games.

If Beijing LOC determines that Aug 22-30 make the most sense for it's hosting of the 2015 edition, then you wouldn't have more than two major meets in Europe in August (Saturday the 1st, and the following weekend).

[gh]

Re: the worst major-meet scheduling ever?

That's assuming that the IAAF has no say in the scheduling of any of the meets, and that's certainly not the case. The question is how much juice they're willing to bring to bear.

As for Beijing worlds, I'd expect it to be same window as Daegu this time. Later if anyting, but not earlier. Weather concerns.

As I recall, it was only browbeating by NBC that got the OG staged so early in '08. (American TV doesn't have much interest in silly track meets that show up after Labor Day, conflicting with NFL, college football and the run-up to the World Series.)