Eyes on Eugene as gamble on host could impact future of World Championships
Next week, World Athletics will discover whether its bold gamble on the future of the World Championships might just pay off. A boutique venue in the third biggest city in the 27th largest state in the United States is a radical departure from the editions that have gone before. But it’s no coincidence that Eugene, Oregon (population: 178,000) is in Nike’s backyard. This is Track Town, USA.
Track and field’s global leaders have typically had bigger eyes than stomachs (and wallets), targeting host cities considered commensurate with the prestige that goes with their sport’s No1 Olympic status. But without sufficient financial muscle to promote the events effectively, successive World Championships – London 2017 aside – have typically taken place in front of disappointingly high numbers of empty seats.
Eugene inception
Oregon22 has been different from inception. First, the venue was decided without the conventional competitive bidding process. The disgraced former leadership of World Athletics (then called the IAAF) decided they simply had to grasp the proffered opportunity of a first ever American staging. Then, the requirement for a financial underwrite by the national government was, it seems, set aside – all to secure that American dream.
The biggest dreamer in all of this is Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, graduate of the University of Oregon in Eugene, and generous sporting and educational benefactor in the city. There can be little doubt that these championships wouldn’t be happening without his support – even though ASICS, not Nike, is the official World Athletics kit partner. (Quite the ambush marketing opportunity…)
Knight’s love of track and field extends to his headlining the 50+ benefactors who have together entirely funded the $270m rebuilding of the iconic Hayward Field venue that will stage this month’s competition.
The old, smaller stadium was always packed with knowledgeable aficionados for the annual Prefontaine Classic. For these World Championships, Hayward Field can seat almost 25,000. This is a big step down from the 40,000 requirement that World Athletics always used to insist on – think eyes versus stomach again – but still a stiff marketing test given the modest size of the local population.
The current World Athletics leadership, under president Seb Coe, hopes Oregon22 will be its bridgehead into the United States, cracking open the market well ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. By then Coe will have finished his last term of office and must be hoping for a legacy of growth to build on his work so far cleaning up governance and fighting doping.
For all these big city ambitions, it could however be that good-on-TV, smaller cities and venues are the way forward for athletics – not just in the US, but worldwide.
Eugene falls down on timezone, its west coast location sitting eight or nine hours behind the sport’s bread-basket European audience. And it simply has to fill those Hayward Field seats so that those watching from home get the sense of a truly must-watch event. But the sport’s deep roots in the city, with Nike’s backing, bode well.
The La-Z-Boy audience will of course expect to hear the Star-Spangled Banner ringing out repeatedly on NBC for home gold medallists. The USA had a poor Tokyo Olympics, by the nation’s usual standards. Yes, top of the athletics medal table, but with seven golds compared to 14 at the Doha 2019 World Championships. Whatever their individual nationalities, the World Athletics team will be quietly rooting for the stars and stripes so that American medals set the seal on these World Champs 2.0. Can’t wait!
Great Britain is sending a big team of 78 athletes to Oregon22, in part reflecting a change in UK Athletics’ selection philosophy to include more up-and-comers. Medal hopes rest mainly on men’s and women’s middle distances, where Britain has a clutch of contenders, and the sprint relays. The past seven editions have each seen between five and seven British medals, including at least one gold. A tough but still reachable target for this time round.
When two worlds collide
Trudging up a hill, deep into a 50k trail race last weekend, someone bounded past me wearing a Bitcoin Runners shirt. Turns out this is a “not-for-profit at the intersection of two community-lead [sic] movements enabling sovereignty of one’s wealth, while improving one’s health” and that he must have been a Fitcoiner (I kid you not! It’s a thing). With Bitcoin 68 per cent off its all-time high, I’m surprised he wasn’t having to crawl.
Only days before I’d sat on a panel at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium discussing the implications of Web3, and specifically DAOs, for sports governance. Much food for thought, not least during my lunchtime stroll around an empty stadium festooned with banners proclaiming support for the Gunners from around the world – Seychelles, Ghana, Cambodia, Detroit, Syria, Pune, Iceland and more.
Just who does ‘own’ a major sports team? Shareholders, season ticket holders, casual fans, remote global followers, buyers of its merchandise, collectors of its NFTs or some mix of the above? And if so, what mix?
Sleazy does it
A leading figure in the world of cricket texts me their reaction to the latest shenanigans in Westminster:
“…and those holier than thou, grandstanding hypocrites continue to sit in judgement over decent and honest (and sober) sports administrators, not to mention similarly upright representatives from many other sectors. Fuel for your next blog? If so, do mention also the use of mobile phones by MPs in Select Committee hearings. Time for us to fight back!”
Happy to oblige!
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com