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rainbowgirl28
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Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:45 pm

TeddyVault wrote:What about each and every one of us go out and volenteer some time at a junior high or high school program? If we help young kids to have fun and enjoy track, then they will be more likely to stick around and compete in high school, college, and post college, and will be more likely to donate money or attend meets when they are older.


:yes:

Recruit people and they will recruit more people to love the event. I got several friends to try pole vaulting, long before I ever started this website. It's contagious :P

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How to make track more attractive?

Unread postby coach-scott » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:09 am

Lets look at track on TV?

Lap after lap of running in circles, with 15 seconds of vault, jumps and weights. The old reason was that advertisers (NIKE etc.) thought that their target market was the avergae joe, that bought shoes for the stereo type 70's runner. That is great, but the wrong target market. ESPN's and sports highlights of basketball show Slam dunks, and outrageous passes. I doubt that 1 out of ten people, that buy basketball shoes, can do what is done on the highlights. When we talk of the All-star basketball game we talk about the slam dunk contest and the three point shot. If basketball was programed like track we would have highlights of a guy dribblling in the corner, because that is what most people are able to do. But it is not what is shown on TV.
In NASCAR the highlights are of crashes, pit stops and lead changes. You go to the bathroom during the boring parts. Womens pole vault has brought back the fun, lets ride the wave.
Track should show the drama of field events, the sprints, and the finishes of the longer distances. How many vaulters attempts could be shown in the same time as 1 10K or 5K race. Every Olympics people show up for the finals of field events and the sprints. That is your target and money market. Bring on the ohhs and ahhhs of field events and leave the napping of mundane lap running for the BBC.

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mcminkz05
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Unread postby mcminkz05 » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:54 am

lol, or you can switch up? meets here always have like throwers relay or whatever.. how about throwers pv? jus tape a few pole together.. or throwers 2 mile. distance runners shot put?
What have you done today to get better?

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Re: How to make track more attractive?

Unread postby Carolina Extreme » Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:13 am

coach-scott wrote:Lets look at track on TV?

Lap after lap of running in circles, with 15 seconds of vault, jumps and weights. The old reason was that advertisers (NIKE etc.) thought that their target market was the avergae joe, that bought shoes for the stereo type 70's runner. That is great, but the wrong target market. ESPN's and sports highlights of basketball show Slam dunks, and outrageous passes. I doubt that 1 out of ten people, that buy basketball shoes, can do what is done on the highlights.
Womens pole vault has brought back the fun, lets ride the wave.
Track should show the drama of field events, the sprints, and the finishes of the longer distances. How many vaulters attempts could be shown in the same time as 1 10K or 5K race. Every Olympics people show up for the finals of field events and the sprints. That is your target and money market. Bring on the ohhs and ahhhs of field events and leave the napping of mundane lap running for the BBC.

I agree 100%. Well said! :yes: But who is the person responsible for deciding which events will get aired? Is it ESPN? USATF? Nike? Other sponsors? Can USATF, who is supposed to be looking out for T&F as a sport :no: , dictate how much of what events will be aired when giving out the contracts for TV? If that is how they end up on TV. Or is it the meet management that sells the rights and ESPN runs with it as they wish? If anyone were to take the initiative who would we contact to try to persuade them?
“Mediocre efforts are like meaty okra. It’s hard to chew and even tougher to swallow.” Rusty Shealy

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Unread postby thornhillj » Mon Feb 23, 2004 11:43 pm

why dont we send track and field to vegas and start betting on races, jumps, and throws? you can bet on just about anything else...
Texas Tech Vault Crew

xtremevaulter

such bullsh*t

Unread postby xtremevaulter » Tue Feb 24, 2004 3:20 pm

this sucks how can a school get rid of a track team? have the no morals

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Unread postby TeddyVault » Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:14 am

Ok, someone with a video camera and some knowledge should put together a sample of what a meet could be like on T.V. and pitch it to someone, anyone.
What would work?
First, look at what is wrong with much of the television coverage...
Yes, too much coverage of long races, or more to the point, too much pointless coverage of long races. As a distance runner/coach I look forward to seeing coverage of a good mile, which can be really, really exciting. However, it is really, really annoying when the ANOUNCERS tell me who is going to win from the beginning. Get some decent announcers into the race and it might be much, much better. Also, maybe handicap a race so that it is up in the air who will win it. Somehow get better runners to run in the various meets, or to give it there all.
Ok, get an anouncer at each field event, and have them cut into the broadcast when there is something interesting happening. Rather than show a taped version of it later, just break in now and then. Make it a hectic, make it fast paced, make it MTV style to match the viewing tendencies of the younger audience.
One of the biggest problems I've noticed is the stupid human interest story. Don't play the lame, sappy music and have the melodramatic announcer tell us about them, have the athlete themselves tell us about themselves, that would be cool. Then we would actually get to know them, rather than what the producers want us to know about them. Sort of like reality T.V. (Get a camera crew to hang out around the vaulters and the weight throwers, the most colorful people at a track meet.)
Oh yeah, someone complained about the distance races being boring, what about the sprints? Half an hour hype for ten seconds of running and another half an hour of posturing afterwards. Hmmm... How many field events could be shown in that time?
Reality TV is the curse of our nation, but might be the future of televised track?
Sorry about the random nature of this post.

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Unread postby vaultmd » Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:27 am

Actually, what you are suggesting is basically how they did it in the sixties, before the age of megaproduction. Showing a track meet was pretty straightforward back then, and pretty enjoyable to watch. Of course those were the days before the NCAA killed off college track with the scholarship limits and the days when a dual meet with USC would fill UCLA's Drake Stadium. Drake Stadium holds 46,000 people. Heck, even in the seventies our little pissant DII team (well, actually it was a pissant DII team with Steve Scott) would fill our 3,000 seat stadium at $6 per head when USC came to town.

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An MTV, ESPN marriage of sorts.

Unread postby Carolina Extreme » Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:50 pm

TeddyVault, Those are some great ideas! To put some meat to it, I go back to one of my earlier questions. Who decides who gets the television contract? That entity, who ever it may be, has the power to change this more than anyone else. It may mean that instead of selling the TV rights to a CBS, NBC, etc, the rights may be sold to a smaller entity like a maybe an MTV/ESPN, or Best Damn Sports Show type spin off, to do it justice.

I still think USATF is not getting the job done for track & field in America. The name is good, but the leadership has missed out on great opportunities and there position to influence better media coverage.
“Mediocre efforts are like meaty okra. It’s hard to chew and even tougher to swallow.” Rusty Shealy

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Unread postby TeddyVault » Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:53 pm

Hmmm... Interesting tidbit of information, (or propoganda) that I found on the USATF Web Site. Does this mean that we are all stressed and worried over nothing? Or does it mean that we should worry more, since USATF believes they have everything figured out?
Are they going about it the wrong way?
And yes, for anyone worried about copyright infringement or anything like that, here is the link... Curtesy of our friends at USATF and the Internet. "Praise be to you, oh Bill Gates and Al Gore." (Note slight air of cynicism in that last statement.)

http://www.usatf.org/about/

"Pushing Ahead

Although our sport traces its roots back to ancient Greece, USATF is on a mission to put track and field at the cutting edge of the 21st-century sports scene. In 1999, USATF established the Golden Spike Tour for indoor and outdoor track and field, a series of elite competitions that gives American athletes what they've requested for years - to compete at home, to receive increased television and other media coverage, and to be paid significant prize money based on performance.

Using innovative meet formats, the Golden Spike Tour has helped to repackage the sport, drawing new fans and new sponsors alike. The Indoor Golden Spike Tour typically averages more than 10,000 fans per meet, while Outdoor Golden Spike Tour meets are standing-room only. Financially, USATF has doubled its overall revenues since 1997. The organization currently has an impressive line-up of sponsors that includes Verizon, General Motors, Nike, Xerox, BenGay and Visa.

This surge in revenue has coincided with a hefty increase in the number of track meets broadcast on television and TV ratings. Our sport has upwards of 50 national TV broadcasts in any given year, and average Nielsen ratings for track and field broadcasts are higher than those of the NHL, the WNBA and Major League Soccer. In addition to getting national TV coverage of the Golden Spike Tour, USA Track & Field has worked with ESPN and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to bring same-day, prime-time coverage of international Golden League meets to ESPN throughout the summer season."

Comments? Anyone have a tv and watch these meets, since as a grad student I can't afford the time or money for one.
Maybe I wasn't supposed to eat those paint chips?

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Unread postby Oldcoach » Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:12 pm

I would be satisfied if whoever packages the next meet on TV would go back and study the '96 olympics coverage-- this was the best since back in the sixties. Especially the men's vault-- where there were no Americans in the top 8 but they continued to show it --Russians, Kazhastani's, German and French guys in an exciting finish.
I think part of the reason of the Atlanta quality was that the the events were almost live- due to the time zone- If you give a TV production group 22 hours to cut and paste a production they will ***k it up. give them an hour or two and you get a better more spontaneous product.

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Re: How to make track more attractive?

Unread postby CowtownPV » Fri Feb 27, 2004 9:27 am

coach-scott wrote:Lets look at track on TV?

Lap after lap of running in circles, with 15 seconds of vault, jumps and weights. .


I agree completely with what your saying but go to the message boards on TFN after a meet and those people are always crying about them only showing the first and last lap of the 5000. The distance folks are the ones with the most influence right now. I wish we could get something like the elite vault at Reno, or a big street vault with a rowdy crowd, on TV and see if it wouldn't sell. I hate the fact that only one Golden Spike meet had men's PV but I like the fact the meets were set up to only last two hours. I definitely think the 12 hour track meets have hurt us.
Winners find a way to win, losers find an excuse.


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