‘We need an actual season’ — Redditor shares track and field reform ideas ahead of LA28

The final Grand Slam track that was supposed to happen in Los Angeles was cancelled due to financial issues. The organisers of the athletic event, which was backed by Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, admitted that they would now wish to focus on improving the series for next year’s run. 

With this announcement, a Redditor expressed his thoughts regarding the future of track and field in the United States. He said in his post, “The LA Olympics in 2028 are coming up soon, so the time is now for US track & field to make some big changes to the sport to make it more popular.”

The posts include three main points on how he thinks the sport can reach a broader audience of sports fans.

Firstly, he stated that it would be nice to have an “actual season of track.” The Redditor explained, “Right now, there’s not really a track season, as you just need to qualify by time for US Champs. If we created a centralised professional league that combines Diamond League/Grand Slam Track/USATF events all into one points system league, this could make events have more meaning and get casual fans to tune in.” 

He also admitted that “extending the post-season” would also be a solution. He added, “US Champs is selling itself short by having 10 straight days of action. Instead, we should look to extend the US Champs period to three straight weekends with prelims, semis, and finals happening in separate weekends. All other major sports leagues have lengthy playoff periods, and championship racing should be extended too to allow for more peak viewing time.” 

Lastly, he suggested that having “new event formats” can help as well. He further discussed, “If you think about it, most professional sports leagues have All-Star games, or fun, exciting formats such as dunk contests or home run derbies that showcase their sport in a fun new setting. Track should do the same to allow celebrities to participate in the sport, and create new fun formats such as elimination-style internal races, which can get more casual fans to tune in.” 

Other Redditors expressed their opinions on these suggestions. One user commented, “Extending US champs is a no-go. The reason you have everything compact and within a three-day span is that it weeds out the one-off racers who can’t make it through the rounds. If you use the format you propose, then we could potentially have one hit wonders make the team, and when the Olympics or world champs come, they won’t survive the rounds.” 

Another Redditor said, “Making the meet three weekends long is just in no way realistic.” 

One more commenter said, “Track is what it is… a hugely popular participation sport but a niche sport at the national and professional level. I’d love for it to be more popular, but I don’t think we should realistically ever hope that it’s going to be a major sport, and that’s okay.”