Eugene, Oregon Awarded 2021 World Championships!

[bad hammy]

from the Eugene Register-Guard story linked in Day's Best Reading on the front page

<<If we’ve learned anything from this process, it’s that back-room deals are part of doing business on the international track circuit. Eugene saw the other side of that in November, when a late influx of cash helped Qatar land the 2019 world championships. Now TrackTown is benefitting from the IAAF’s decision to award the 2021 games without a bidding process, which rankled track officials in Europe.>>

This is a large part of what was behind my unkind comment about limited sympathy for the Swedes et. al. It wasn't about the Swedes at all but rather my frustration that this selection process often appears corrupt along with the other competition where countries fight each other to see who can have the privileged of going bankrupt hosting the OGs. (Maybe these folks could use a law like Citizen's United to legalize their corruption. Actually, for all I know they do.) Yes, none of the US crowd here appreciated Doha getting the nod ahead of us so I can definitely empathize, despite earlier comments.

Nothing surprises me when people are throwing around big money . . .

Oh, and while is sucks for other potential bidders I do find it quite delicious that this happened just before USATF BS sends Bob Hersh to the sidelines. I have very low expectations for the Hightower years . . .

[Dave]

But I expect a larger proportion of the spectators were locals compared to what we're going to see at the WC. And there will be a lot more athletes, team officials, IAAF suits and international journalists there in 2021 compared to the OT.

This competition is unlikely put much more of a strain on Eugene as do Oregon Ducks football games. 30,000 attendees and perhaps 20K athletes and members of their entourages compared with 54K who show up football.

Yes, they need to increase capacity of Hayward field. I am a bit confused since a lot of reports show 10.5K capacity. Typically, Pre attendance is closer to 15k.

[gh]

yes, the number of seat kills that the media and VIPs will make up would probably be about equal to the entire West Grandstand as Hayward is currently configured.

But Oregon obviously showed the IAAF a plan for upgrades which satisfied them or else they wouldn't have voted for it.

[Powell]

Don't know how accurate the numbers were, but for the final Sunday of the 2012 Trials, there were supposedly 30,000 people on hand, between the paying spectators in the stands and the several thousand milling around in the festival area right outside Hayward.

But I expect a larger proportion of the spectators were locals compared to what we're going to see at the WC. And there will be a lot more athletes, team officials, IAAF suits and international journalists there in 2021 compared to the OT.

[DrJay]

We've easily accommodated 20,000+ for the Olympic Trials; another 10,000 is very doable...

Don't know how accurate the numbers were, but for the final Sunday of the 2012 Trials, there were supposedly 30,000 people on hand, between the paying spectators in the stands and the several thousand milling around in the festival area right outside Hayward.

[gh]

from the Eugene Register-Guard story linked in Day's Best Reading on the front page

<<If we’ve learned anything from this process, it’s that back-room deals are part of doing business on the international track circuit. Eugene saw the other side of that in November, when a late influx of cash helped Qatar land the 2019 world championships. Now TrackTown is benefitting from the IAAF’s decision to award the 2021 games without a bidding process, which rankled track officials in Europe.

Lananna knows how to play the game. That’s the only explanation for Thursday’s announcement, which was years in the making but still somehow unexpected.>>

[bruce3404]

While I'm not at all inclined to read the entire IAAF procedural manual, I did pick up some info on their website: http://www.iaaf.org/eventbidding/candidature-procedure

The first lines seem to allow for wiggle room: For all WAS events, the candidature procedure takes a similar form, running from January to November.

• January - Opening of the bid process:
Every year a circular letter is sent out to all IAAF member federations, specifying which events are open for bidding and communicating the deadline for first element to be sent through, the letter of intent

As I read this, the IAAF will let cities know which events are open for bidding. Obviously, 2021 will not be open for bidding. Is there anything within their guidelines that obviously states that bidding is an automatic part of the process for awarding a WC?

[bobguild76]

Just returned from two weeks in South Africa ... and this is AMAZING! (Once again, channeling my inner aaronk) Can't wait to sign up for the T&FN 2021 Tour.

[Powell]

Imagine something like this going to the Supreme Court and the defense attorney wins by citing a precedent, Osaka 2007. Is there a specific IAAF rule that states the process involves competitive bidding? If so, why have they now twice broken protocol?

I repeat what I have already said before in this thread: Osaka was NOT a breach of protocol. There was no formal selection process, because no other city put in a bid. It was not remotely the same situation as this time around.

[bruce3404]

I believe this line of logic is called 'rationalization', which does not address the underlying issue of not following the protocols in place to determine a 'fair' winner. There was nothing 'fair' about this decision, attractive as it is to me.

I don't disagree with your take, though I might be inclined to spin it and label it "expediency". Sounds a lot better, though a quick definition indicates "the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral". Imagine something like this going to the Supreme Court and the defense attorney wins by citing a precedent, Osaka 2007. Is there a specific IAAF rule that states the process involves competitive bidding? If so, why have they now twice broken protocol? It seems that you have to lose once to win and Eugene was the strong favorite for 2021, given the close vote last year. If anything, Gothenburg wasn't given the opportunity to lose and thus be in the running for 2023. Or maybe that's part of the Gothenburg strategy which is to set themselves up as the "loser" in a no-bid competition? If so, they saved themselves a lot of money by not having to produce a losing bid for 2021.

[Powell]

It might be hypocritical if those celebrating Eugene were bashing Sweden for complaining about their loss, but I don’t think that’s happening. Those that hoped for Eugene in the 2019 bid process are sympathetic to other cities that hoped to bid for 2021.

Certainly not everyone in this thread has been sympathetic

It's a bit rich Goteborg complaining about not getting to bid. Didn't they lose their skjortas on the '95 edition?

Really, my sympathy level for any complaints is minimal.

[Atticus]

the IAAF realized that a huge window of opportunity was closing as both the head of Tracktown USA and its main benefactor are aging. The opportunity was seized and the goal of finally hosting a meet in the US was met.

I believe this line of logic is called 'rationalization', which does not address the underlying issue of not following the protocols in place to determine a 'fair' winner. There was nothing 'fair' about this decision, attractive as it is to me.

[bruce3404]

It might be hypocritical if those celebrating Eugene were bashing Sweden for complaining about their loss, but I don’t think that’s happening. Those that hoped for Eugene in the 2019 bid process are sympathetic to other cities that hoped to bid for 2021.

After re-reading the “Doha Wins” thread, I can’t help but feel that the “formal” bid process is any less corrupt or bewildering than what happened in Beijing this week.

As has been reported, the IAAF realized that a huge window of opportunity was closing as both the head of Tracktown USA and its main benefactor are aging. The opportunity was seized and the goal of finally hosting a meet in the US was met. The US contingent did a great job of staying in communication with the powers that be and were able to sell the idea that this opportunity might not be available in four years. Time to move forward.

[wamego relays champ]

And do you remember the outcry here the last time their political decision was to follow the money and select Doha instead of Eugene?
Money made the decision for Doha and money made the decision for Eugene, the difference is, when Eugene lost, everyone here criticised the IAAF, now that Eugene "won" it's all nice and dandy, i believe that's what you call hypocrisy.

It might be hypocritical if those celebrating Eugene were bashing Sweden for complaining about their loss, but I don’t think that’s happening. Those that hoped for Eugene in the 2019 bid process are sympathetic to other cities that hoped to bid for 2021.

After re-reading the “Doha Wins” thread, I can’t help but feel that the “formal” bid process is any less corrupt or bewildering than what happened in Beijing this week. While some may say that selecting Eugene for 2021 does not “respect the process” or is “less than transparent,” the formal bidding process that traditionally awards WC and OG sites is also the source of frequent reports of corruption and underhanded dealing.

I think for most track fans getting a great site is much more important than the process for getting it.

[bruce3404]

But in a place the size of Eugene the influx of visitors for the WC may push hotel prices into quadruple digits, too, and even then it could be hard to accomodate everyone. In London or NYC the increase in visitor numbers for an event like this wouldn't even be noticeable.

As a Eugene resident, the amount of excitement in this town is out of control. Did the Daegu, Moscow or Beijing newspapers run a banner headline when they won the Worlds's?
I dunno, but the Register Guard did this morning (announcement was past their deadline yesterday).

I don't see a huge problem with housing guests. As aaronk mentioned, the AirBnb scheme has revolutionized travel. Those not interested in the meet will be tempted to rent their homes, some will rent rooms, I've opened my house and backyard to half a dozen friends, all of whom routinely attend WC's. A lot of fans will be locals or folks from Portland with Eugene connections; some will be the same people who routinely come down for the weekend when the football team packs their stadium with 60,000 fans. There are quite a few RV parks in the area (or Walmarts for the frugal who don't want to pay camping fees) and several new hotels are already in various forms of construction. We also have our share of no-tel motels (don't laugh, quite a few of us happily stayed in love motels in Daegu--some of us even brought our wives). What we don't have are international class 5 star hotels, so some might have to "rough it" a bit. A simple fact is that a lot of fans don't travel to WCs. If they did, they sure weren't in Moscow or Daegu where there might have been a hard core of only 5-10,000 visiting fans who attended all sessions. Not sure what happened to the huge Western European fanbase in Moscow. We've easily accommodated 20,000+ for the Olympic Trials; another 10,000 is very doable and Vin has already announced the intent to build an athlete's village (my guess is that part of the village will incorporate university dorms which will mostly be empty during the summer).
Apart from housing, fans will find a lot to do with whatever spare time is available. A beautiful, rugged coastline is little more than an hour away or you can hike a 10,000+ foot peak by driving 90 minutes in the opposite direction. Closer hiking trails abound along with a huge network of cycling and running trails. The microbrew scene has been exploding and we now have our own brewpub district with half a dozen brewpubs within an easy walk of DT. Apart from stadium renovations which will begin after the 2016 Trials, I can confidently say that Eugene is ready to host this event today.