Coming to America

Back in November, when the IAAF voted on the host city of the 2019 World Championships and picked Doha, a lot of people were surprised by how close Eugene, Oregon came to actually being selected.  Many thought the fact that it's such a small city and Hayward Field's capacity needs to be greatly expanded worked against Eugene being selected, but how close the election actually was indicated that we were going to see the World Championships held in Eugene sooner rather than later.

As it turns out, it was sooner than we all thought.  After some clandestine meetings, the IAAF awarded Eugene the 2021 World Championships without so much as a vote.  It was a historic move.  The powers that be knew that, and they did what they needed to do in order to make it happen.

The first IAAF World Championships were held in 1983.  They've taken place every other year since 1991.  Yet, in those 30 years, the Championships have been held outside of Europe or Asia only once.  The 2001 edition was in Edmonton.  The United States, which has long been the dominant power in the sport of track & field, has never hosted.  There was something backwards about that and everyone noticed.  It's also the IAAF's chance to tap into the U.S. economy, which they were quick to point out in the press release announcing the selection.

Lamine Diack, who's retiring as President of the IAAF, wanted more than anything for his sport's signature event held in the United States.  So, in a move that will surely cement his legacy, Diack pushed forward with a Eugene World Championships.  Either Seb Coe or Sergey Bubka will be IAAF President six years from now, but the 2021 World Championships will have Diack's fingerprints all over them.  And he's earned that right.  Because the World Championships in the U.S. are long overdue.

But why Eugene and not a larger city like New York or Los Angeles?  Well, for starters, neither one of those cities has a facility, and they really wouldn't have any use for one once the World Championships ended.  The NCAA Championships are held at Hayward Field every year and so is the Prefontaine Classic, one of the stops on the IAAF Diamond League circuit.  The last two U.S. Olympic Trials have been held there, and they will be in 2016, too.  Hayward Field doesn't meet the IAAF's minimum size requirements, but it's expanded for the Olympic Trials and can easily be expanded again for the World Championships.

Eugene can rightfully call itself "Tracktown USA."  There's a passion for the sport in Eugene that simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the country.  Why go somewhere bigger just for the sake of going somewhere bigger?  In Eugene, they get it.  You've got passionate fans who care deeply and know what they're cheering for.  You might sell a few more tickets in a bigger city, but the crowd wouldn't be anywhere near as vocal or knowledgeable.  And certainly not as passionate.  You'd have to give away so many tickets to corporations just to fill seats that there would be absolutely no atmosphere.  That's not a problem in Eugene.  And the smaller stadium might actually be an advantage.  Remember all those empty seats in the 80,000-seat stadium in Moscow?

It's not the easiest place to get to, but Eugene is close enough to Portland (which is a direct flight from most major U.S. cities) that it shouldn't make much of a difference.  Besides, the city will embrace the World Championships in a way no other place in the U.S. can.  They love the sport and it will be the biggest thing ever to hit the town.  And you can bet the whole town's gonna get behind it.  It's kinda like Lake Placid identifies itself first and foremost with the Winter Olympics.

Any lingering concerns about Eugene's ability to hold major events were answered and then some last summer, when Eugene hosted a highly successful World Junior Championships.  It's a small city, but the meet went off without a hitch.  And the fact that Hayward Field is located on a college campus proved extremely beneficial.  The University of Oregon's dorms doubled as the Athlete's Village.  If they want to give the pros some nicer facilities to live in during the World Championships, Oregon could even get some new dorms out of it.

So, the question really should be, "Why not Eugene?"  If you want a World Championships in the United States, which many do, it's the perfect place.  That's why Eugene almost got the nod over Doha for 2019, and why the IAAF was so confident about 2021 that they didn't even feel the need to have a bid process.  Sweden was upset about that.  They wanted to put forth Gothenburg as a candidate.  But even if there was a formal bid process and it was Eugene vs. Gothenburg, it probably would've been a contest.  So the IAAF was really just saving everyone a lot of time and money by doing something that seemed inevitable.

Everything points to the 2021 World Championships in Eugene being just as successful as the 2014 World Juniors.  Some have suggested that it could help the Boston Olympic bid's chances for 2024, but one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.  The 2024 Olympic host will be picked in 2017, four years before Eugene hosts the World Championships.

Giving Eugene a shot makes complete sense all the way around.  You're getting more publicity in the U.S. than ever before and can potentially tap into the American market for sponsors and the like.  Then there's NBC, which will have live coverage in U.S. primetime for the first time ever.  Most of all, you're leveling the playing field a little bit.  The U.S. track team is the best in the world.  After 30 years on the road, they're finally going to have a home game.  I, for one, can't wait.