Eugene — LA 28 President Casey Wasserman said Sunday that Los Angeles is unlikely to host the 2028 Olympic track and field trials, a move that creates the likelihood that the trials will return to Eugene for a sixth consecutive time unprecedented.
USA Track & Field CEO Max Siegel said his organization has already had discussions with Tracktown USA officials about the 2028 trials at Hayward Field, the host site for all track and field trials since 2008.
Since Los Angeles was awarded the 2028 Olympic Games, the consensus – and hope – among America’s top athletes and coaches was that the 2028 trials would take place at the Coliseum, the site of the Olympic track competition.
But Wasserman and Siegel all but slammed the door on the Los Angeles trials, with Wasserman citing cost and logistical concerns.
“It adds a level of complexity to our planning that I’m not sure is best for the athletes,” Wasserman said during a joint news conference with Siegel at Hayward Field.
The Olympic track and field competition will take place on a temporary track at the Colosseum that will cover several lower rows around the stadium. In addition to becoming the first stadium to host an Olympic track competition, the Colosseum will also host the closing ceremonies of the 2028 Games.
“The temporary track is actually the most expensive and probably the most complicated thing we have to build,” Wasserman said.
“We need to put a world-class track back in place and it’s a really complicated thing. This is also where the closing ceremonies will take place. so operational stress would likely take away from the athletes.
“It’s not my decision to make, but it would be my concern.”
Although Siegel insisted that testing returning to Hayward Field in 2028 was not an “inevitability,” his comments all pointed to that likelihood.
“It’s difficult to find such a collaborative, knowledgeable partner and supportive fan base for a sport like Eugene,” Siegel said.
“We’ll make an offer like we usually do, we’re trying to find a host that’s as good as the one we have here in Eugene.”
Such research is unlikely to succeed.
An Orange County Register report last week revealed that Eugene was awarded the 2024 trials by USATF after no other cities applied for the event.
Meet directors and local tourism officials said they couldn’t compete with TrackTown USA, a tax-exempt nonprofit that has reported more than $140 million in revenue since its founding in 2013 for perhaps becoming one of its main benefactors, Nike. the most powerful entity in American athletics.
“Eugene is pretty tough to compete with these days,” said Greg Edwards, president and CEO of the Des Moines Area Athletic Commission. “The Olympic Trials are a huge undertaking, both in terms of cost and sponsorship. And Eugene is so powerful that you feel like you can’t compete with them. So (auctions) become a, “Why are we spinning our wheels? »
The Olympic trials, said Brian Yokoyama, director of sporting events at Mt. San Antonio College, “will never be in a major market again.”
Tracktown USA CEO Michael Reilly, when asked about the 2028 trials by the Register earlier this month, said: “We haven’t started thinking about the next trials yet. »
Wasserman and Siegel’s comments will likely be met with disappointment by many top U.S. athletes and coaches, a growing number of whom complain about the financial and logistical burden placed on them, their families and support staff by having to travel in Eugene for so many people. major championships.
Of the eight major U.S. championships this decade — the Olympic Trials, U.S. and NCAA Championships — seven were hosted by Eugene. Tracktown has hosted nine of the last 11 NCAA Championships and is also scheduled to host the next three NCAA Championships. Or consider that in the 104-year history of the Olympic Trials, no other city has hosted the event more than three consecutive times and no location has held more than two consecutive Trials since 1928.
Eugene is also a candidate to host the 2025 and 2028 NCAA U.S. Championships.
“You wouldn’t want to see track become one of those pay-to-play sports,” said sprinter Gabby Thomas, a two-time Olympic medalist and 4×100-meter relay world champion. “You want the best people in the country to have the opportunity to be part of the team, not just because they have the support and the financial means.”
Thomas is one of a growing number of Olympic and world medalists who are advocating that major U.S. championships be held far from Eugene.
“I think we would all like to see that,” said Thomas, an Olympic bronze medalist and World Championship silver medalist in the 200 meters. “I really think it’s time. You see how easy it is to travel to other cities. Eugene is really hard to reach and it is not possible for many people to try to achieve their dream.
“But also just out of interest (on the track). The public wants to see the Olympic trials. They want to know when it’s happening, where it’s happening and they want to be able to buy tickets if you put it in a city that people will be excited to go to.
“For people who just want to go and support (the sport). If I don’t want to go see Eugene, why would anyone?
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