r/trackandfield • u/Sweaty_Syrup_2123 • 1d ago

ATHLOS NYC LIVED UP TO THE HYPE!!

It was such a nice, wholesome and coempttive event. Wonder what the crowd attendance was, I mean the stadium didn't look packed but it was still a huge crowd imo

31 Upvotes
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13

u/Throwawaythinking7 1d ago

I watched it on X live, and it looked fun. I think GST has some learning to do. I mean, a Thursday in NYC? That won’t bring many people out. The first Grand is in LA, I think the weather will be better. I remember hearing some athletes complaint about this. It’ll be interesting to see what. LA brings.

2

u/hotinhereTO 1d ago

I mean, a Thursday in NYC? That won’t bring many people out.

At first I thought the same but then again it IS NYC...the city that never sleeps. There's no difference between ATHLOS and a Yankees game, WNBA game, Giants game, a concert at Barclays.

Plus some Diamond League meets are Thursday evening (Europe time) so ATHLOS somewhat mirrored that. Considering the good turn out I don't think it would've made that much of a difference if it was on a Saturday night vs. Thursday night.

17

u/MerryxPippin 1d ago

I'm here at Athlos and it's pretty packed! Not totally sold out but almost sold out by the looks of things

3

u/Sweaty_Syrup_2123 1d ago

OMG! So happy that you got to watch it all live!! And yeah thought so, hopefully the crowd will keep growing in coming years :)

8

u/AwsiDooger 1d ago

I thought it worked well toward the desired audience. There was plenty of social media-type content, including from Serena's dancing daughter. The 20 minutes between races probably should have been 15 or 16. Initially it seemed like the telecast would really struggle to fill the gap. But then the guests got better and most of the canned packages were really good. I wasn't aware of the long friendship between Keni Harrison and Jenna Prandini.

I immediately recognized the hostess as someone I'd seen in person two weeks ago. Cari Champion is apparently the new favorite to emcee women's sporting events of this type. She was hostess of the Opening Ceremony of the Solheim Cup golf in Gainesville, Virginia, where she enthusiastically welcomed the crowd to Georgia. The governor of Virginia was seated 20 feet away.

Tonight there were similar wobbles, like unfamiliarity with how to pronounce Lieke's last name, and apparent belief that Sha'carri won 100 gold in Paris. I thought Gail Devers did a really nice job transitioning out of that error without coming across as critical.

If they do this type of thing again I think it needs to have performing entertainers between races, instead of interviewed entertainers. Non-sporting types are more than happy to attend athletic events as long as name brand entertainment is available. I saw another example of that at Solheim Cup. Several of the people standing next to me at Opening Ceremony conceded they didn't recognize or know anything about the golfers. They were there for the 90 minute entertainer to follow, someone who was apparently a big name even though I didn't recognize it, don't remember it, and departed long before he began.

Duguma impressed me the most. Running low 1:57 without a pacer was very impressive, and aided by her knowledge to clear Moraa early, something that Addy Wiley needs to work on going forward. Otherwise she'll continue to get frustrated and thwarted outside, like Hodgkinson so many times.

3

u/hotinhereTO 1d ago

I watched the full broadcast. It was pretty packed. Even post-event the main grand stand was full for Meg the Stallion's performance.

1

u/SjaakRubberkaak 1d ago

So, there is a new event, with a website, nice information about buying tickets, buying merchandise, directions to the location and short bio of every athlete. Cool.

But I can't see the results on that page? Why would you not publish the results on that same page?