IAAF Lose Diamond League NY

Myles Splitz

Looks like Adidas are staying on board with the event as sponsors but it will not be a part of the IAAF Series which has now elevated the World Tour meet in Rabat to be included in the series instead

http://www.flotrack.org/article/40088-iaaf-loses-new-york-diamond-league-event

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/03/adidas-gp-no-rabat-meeting-will-replace-new-york-city-diamond-league-series/

Chivito550

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Looks like Adidas are staying on board with the event as sponsors but it will not be a part of the IAAF Series which has now elevated the World Tour meet in Rabat to be included in the series instead

http://www.flotrack.org/article/40088-iaaf-loses-new-york-diamond-league-event

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/03/adidas-gp-no-rabat-meeting-will-replace-new-york-city-diamond-league-series/

I'd have much preferred if ISTAF in Berlin became part of the DL.

Myles Splitz

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'd have much preferred if ISTAF in Berlin became part of the DL.

Wouldn't make much sense for a number of reasons;

1) NY is an early season race presumably they wanted to have an event around that time of year

2) Reason DL came in is to expand on the European circuit so replacing a non European event with a European falls back further to the Golden League format

3) Timing. That event is 2 days after Zurich and 6 days before Brussels. Post Olympics trying to get top athletes to fill all events would be slim

Chivito550

Myles Splitz wrote: »

Wouldn't make much sense for a number of reasons;

1) NY is an early season race presumably they wanted to have an event around that time of year

2) Reason DL came in is to expand on the European circuit so replacing a non European event with a European falls back further to the Golden League format

3) Timing. That event is 2 days after Zurich and 6 days before Brussels. Post Olympics trying to get top athletes to fill all events would be slim

True regarding European circuit and expansion, but to be fair as it stands 10 out of the 14 are in Europe, so they aren't doing a great job of expansion anyway.

ISTAF is a super meet with great heritage and was always part of the Golden League. I'm not sure why it wasn't included in the DL, but I'd much rather watch 50,000 in Berlin, than about 4,000 in Rabat. If the attendances at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh a few years ago are anything to go by then the stadium will be mostly empty.

Tricky this year, but point 3 could easily be solved in future years by holding the Berlin meet in May/June.

Chivito550

From Wikipedia:

From 1993 to 1997 IAAF classified the ISTAF among the IAAF Golden Four meetings. From 1998 to 2009 it was part of the IAAF Golden League. When the IAAF Diamond League was introduced, Berlin was provisionally planned as one of its meets, but the organisers were unable to meet the criteria for the new elite series, so the meet became part of the second tier World Challenge circuit from 2010 instead.

It always strikes me as something which should be one of the top Diamond League meets, along with Brussels, Oslo and Zurich, not languishing in the second tier with Melbourne and Zagreb. If a European meet had to go I'd rather one of the UK ones did. They don't need two. Switzerland don't need a second one either.

wgtomblin

Chivito550 wrote: »

True regarding European circuit and expansion, but to be fair as it stands 10 out of the 14 are in Europe, so they aren't doing a great job of expansion anyway.

ISTAF is a super meet with great heritage and was always part of the Golden League. I'm not sure why it wasn't included in the DL, but I'd much rather watch 50,000 in Berlin, than about 4,000 in Rabat. If the attendances at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh a few years ago are anything to go by then the stadium will be mostly empty.

Tricky this year, but point 3 could easily be solved in future years by holding the Berlin meet in May/June.

I agree.
As ever, money talks.... Morocco have been investing in sports infrastructure among other, becoming the regular choice for FIFA World Club Cup tournament, Cup of Nations (cancelled due to ebola fears), and lately the IAAF Continental Cup. They have some great new facilities, but will they even half-fill the stadium for DL ? Capacity 50,000. I doubt it. Maybe DL will be marketed better, and the country has a strong tradition of distance-running. We'll see.

Chivito550

The idea of expansion is a good one if done properly. But bringing it to places that have no interest is pointless. NYC was a terrible meet. Awful venue, miles out of Manhattan, which couldn’t even fill a small capacity stadium. Most locals wouldn’t even have had a notion it was going on. Doha is another dreadful meet. Bringing something like this to oil rich nations is not exactly what I would call expansion. To be honest outside of Europe there are very few places that would justify having one. Shanghai and Eugene are great. Australia is at the wrong time of the year, and the Melbourne World Challenge meet doesn’t get great crowds (though perhaps they would for a Diamond League, and it’s a nice venue very close to the centre of the city). Maybe Tokyo could justify one, or Kingston in Jamaica. The interest wouldn’t be great enough in South or Central America, and the parts of Africa which are passionate about athletics wouldn’t be able to host one to the required standards. I suppose outside of Europe, Morocco is not a bad choice, but I think they should be given 2 years, and if the crowds are not good in that time, then the plug gets pulled on them.

rainbow kirby

Chivito550 wrote: »

If a European meet had to go I'd rather one of the UK ones did. They don't need two.

Tickets for London and Birmingham tend to sell pretty well though - I'd be surprised if either of them was dropped any time soon. Brits love winners and as long as they have a few people with Olympic medal chances there will be bums on seats.

Chivito550

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Tickets for London and Birmingham tend to sell pretty well though - I'd be surprised if either of them was dropped any time soon. Brits love winners and as long as they have a few people with Olympic medal chances there will be bums on seats.

Yeh, to be honest most European ones seem to sell well, from what I can tell from watching on TV. It would be hard to justify any of them losing one. If one had to go, it should be from a country that has two. But my preference would be to have Berlin instead of Rabat. Rabat is practically Europe anyway. To say they are spreading the Diamond League to the continent of Africa is an almighty stretch.