Sport growth when it comes to the sport of track and field has been the talk of the town for a while now, but the conversation has continued to grow as the performances from the world class athletes who take the track and grace the field continues to elevate year in and year out.
Athletes and fans alike enjoy competition, especially when you face off against the best of the best with the opportunity to show the world and future opponent’s who’s boss. On the professional scene, the Diamond League runs the show each season, as athletes race at various meets around the world to earn enough points to increase their respective rankings in the events that they compete in. This allows the athletes to compete at the Diamond League Final, which determines the Diamond League champion.
Hope that explanation wasn’t too confusing.
But therein lies a question that must be revisited. Are there too many Diamond League meets?
The Diamond League season consists of 14-15 meets near and far when it comes to location. One week, athletes could gear up to travel to Eugene, Oregon for the Prefontaine Classic, and a few days later, they could be competing in Doha, Qatar. While enjoyable for fans, there’s a couple of things to consider.
- Travel takes a financial and physical toll. Unlike other sports like the NBA, NFL, MLB or the NHL, track and field does not have a strong domestic presence when it comes to hosting high end meets in one location. The American Track League is the closest series of meets that would matchup to a U.S. based league where all meets are on home soil. Constant and quick travel can do more harm than it does good when it comes to performance and the overall mental and physical heath of the athletes competing.
- The turnaround after major championship meets. The Zurich Diamond League meet was held four days after the World Championships in Budapest. From a logical standpoint, that’s a very fast turnaround for athletes who competed at the World Championships in Budapest, which suggests that athletes might not have fully recovered from the championship meet. While that did not stop a great meet from happening, a bit of the thrill was gone after such a fantastic and historic championship meet that took place in Budapest.
We dig deeper on the issue on this episode of Track Talk.
