The killing of fan support in America

[Marlow]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

Honest question: is it hard for them to be fans of Ndamukong Suh?

Nope, instead of running around a track (booooring!), he's slobber-knocking some other very big men. Same appeal as UFC.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

Honest question: is it hard for them to be fans of Ndamukong Suh?

Nope, instead of running around a track (booooring!), he's slobber-knocking some other very big men. Same appeal as UFC.

So the familiarity of the name has nothing to do with appeal.

[Dilan Esper]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

One thing that I have noticed that drives me crazy is that (below the elite levels) there is not much good announcing anymore at meets. It is critical to have a good announcer to educate the casual fan and draw their attention to what is interesting going on in the meet.

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A couple decades back, Bob Hersh conducted a clinic at a USATF convention about meet announcing. It was fascinating. I wish he would do it again. The sport needs more good announcers.

Track and field is really hard to announce well, and for reasons that go beyond the issue of the skill and effort of the announcer. You do need a good announcer, but the meet also has to be structured in such a way that allows the announcer time to tell the crowd what is going on and focus the crowd on the most important events at any particular moment.

Indeed, I don't think elite meets, for the most part, are announced very well these days. There's too much emphasis on awards ceremonies, too much reliance on scoreboards to provide results (which are taken down too soon), introductions of running events that go on way too long (seriously, it really isn't important that the guy in lane 6 was 4th in the 2003 World University Games), and not enough time left to do what is really important, which is directing the crowd to what they should be watching and telling the crowd why they should be watching it, especially with respect to getting key field event competitors when they are on the runway or in the ring. Announcers in distance races seem to have forgotten the importance of giving lap times and making speed projections, and relating the splits to record pace when warranted-- instead we get a kilometer split that nobody can relate to posted on a timer in the infield.

Announcing in elite meets (other than the WC/OG, a special case where Bob Hersh did the world a huge favor by slowly changing the IAAF's traditional practices that prohibited calling races and providing real-time information) has gone downhill in my lifetime.

But a lot of that, as I said, is due to the way meets are presented. Meet managers want the award ceremonies and give short shrift to results. Meet managers also tell announcers that they basically can't say anything between the time of an introduction of a running event and the start, which means if some important thing is happening the field, nobody's going to know about it. And meet managers don't always provide good field event communications, which is essential for a complete presentation.

You really need a combination of a good announcer and meet management who understands what a good announcer needs and how to present a meet so that a good announcer can do his or her job properly. It's really a delicate combination and it isn't achieved very often.

[deortman]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

Given Stanford's prowess in Football these days, you would never know that 50 years ago, in 1961, track and field saved Stanford football.

Payton Jordan, retired Stanford track coach, was interviewed by John Blanchette of the Spokesman-Review (WA) as part of an August 14th article on the 1992 National Masters Track and Field Championships (Spokane, WA with 104 degree afternoons). According to Jordan, in the summer of 1961, Stanford’s athletic program was $100,000 in debt as a result of a 0-10 football season. The next year, Jordan drew 72,500 and 81,000 spectators to Stanford Stadium to see the fourth U.S.-U.S.S.R dual track meet, raising enough money to erase Stanford’s red ink. It wouldn’t have happened in 1992 and it wouldn’t happen today. Blanchette asked Jordon who’s killing track and field?

To see Jordon's response see my "False Start" track and field column at:

http://ortmanmarchand.com/fsh.html

[Smoke]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

GH thank you for the anecdotes. And the information. However, it is not impossible to connect. There is a basic step to be explored, develop a broader based program that will expand on Win with Integrity. A more basic one that is not coming into schools selling a moral message but just familiarizing the populace/kids with the personalities/faces of the sport.

[Marlow]

Re: The killing of fan support in America

Don't look now (i.e., do) but USATF may be listening to the drums of the restless natives; they've hired a consultant to rebrand USA T&F!! See the article linked on the home page. It discusses some of the very things we've been talking about here!! :shock: