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Like some others I find the timing of the Diamond League finals after the WC or OG to be anti-climatic. Additionally unsatisfying, at least to me, is to see finals where the overall winner is defeated by others. What would have happened if Batman flopped because of injury or a fall. How satisfying would it be to see the last place Johnny Dutch finish last and win the Diamond League? It could have happened. Try explaining that to most sports fans. Could it be more exciting if the eight highest scorers in each event is admitted to the finals; their scores used to determine lanes and order of performance for the field events, but are otherwise are thrown out; and the winner of the finals is the winner of the Diamond League?
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Anything but what we have now would be better. I saw nothing wrong with the previous Grand Prix Finals and it mean more money for the athletes. How can you promote a sport which after its World Championships has not one but two finals?
I agree with you that the fields in any Diamond League Finals should include meaningful competitors. Towards this end:
1) Increase the points scorer from the top 3 at each stop to the top 5 (5-4-3-2-1). This will maintain interest in events over the 14meet schedule.
2) Mandate a maximum of one "home town" lane filler and not a choice lane unless they are time qualified
3) The top eight points leaders are guaranteed lanes in the Diamond League finals at which point the leader board is scrapped and we revert to the old GP Finals system.
4) Increase the athletes share in the pot (yes the organizers want to keep it all) from winners only 40k to something like 30-20-10-8-6-5-4-2
5) Have this final away from the Zurich and Brussels events in a one meet contest rather than the stop and start disjointed scenario the current system creates. -
Here, BTW, is the schedule for next year, with the Olympics going from Aug. 12 to 21.
Doha May 6
Shanghai May 14
Eugene May 28
Rome June 2
Birmingham June 5
Oslo June 9
Stockholm June 16
New York June 18
Monaco July 15
London July 22-23
(break for Olympics)
Lausanne August 25
Paris August 27
Zurich September 1
Brussels September 9
So, Lausanne and Paris are shifted to after the global championship meet, Lausanne getting the "fresh Olympic champions" (and tired ones).
As far as I know, no changes to scoring are being made.
Quite frankly, I pretty much like the current setup. The suggestions above remind me of MLB adding more and more playoff teams to try to keep up fan interest later in the season, thereby watering down the talent in the playoffs and making it less probable that the best teams will play in the World Series.
Cheers,
Alan ShankComment
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