NALathletics blog

What track & field can learn from NIL deals

26 April 2023 George 0 Comments

Name, Image and Likeness deals are approaching $1 billion nationwide, without a single athlete doing the one thing track & field thinks is the most important sponsorship benefit: logo placement.

Track & field pleads for their latest shortcut, the Netflix-style docu-series

19 April 2023 George 0 Comments

Sports docu-series are earned, not given. But even if Netflix “gave” one to track & field, the sport would not experience a Drive to Survive-like surge in popularity or revenue.

NYRR prize money opens a performance pay gap

06 December 2022 George 0 Comments

New York Road Runners once solved the gender pay gap, but in 2022 created a performance pay gap. They can talk all they want about inclusion and community, but this is sports. If they’re going to pay for performance, we have to talk about merit....

New York City Marathon prize money breakdown (data viz)

08 November 2022 George 0 Comments

Like the Diamond League, the NYC Marathon is outside our daily realm of caring. But every once in awhile, particularly when there's money afoot and... controversy... around its allocation, road running will grab our attention.

Diamond League earnings: Full table, breakdown and analysis

03 October 2022 George 0 Comments

We don’t particularly care about the Diamond League. But two we things we do care about are (a) making accessible and interesting what little financial information is available from the world of track & field, and (b) doing in track & field all the things...

Pickleball the latest sport to overtake track & field commercially

08 September 2022 George 0 Comments

Track & field had a 2,000 year head start on pickleball, and is already well behind and falling back commercially. Money goes where it's wanted.

Track & field athletes' salaries likely line up with other non-major sports'

16 August 2022 George 0 Comments

No one knows how much money track & field athletes make, but everyone seems to agree that they should make more. However, based upon the significant metric of average attendance per game (match, meet, what have you), track & field athletes may be out-earning their...

Track & field needs longer seasons, shorter seasons... just more seasons

10 August 2022 George 0 Comments

For most American track & field athletes, the season ends in mid-June. Once entries close for USA Track & Field national championships, the meet market evaporates. “Last chance” meets aren’t just the last chance to hit a qualifying mark for the national championships - they’re...

WCH2022 attendance: T&F did for one week what second tier soccer teams do every week

01 August 2022 George 0 Comments

World Championships showed that track & field can do it once, under near perfect conditions, where "it" is attracting the same number of fans each night as a regular season second tier soccer game.

Track & field athletes can pursue dominance over time, instead of just times

28 July 2022 George 0 Comments

Track & field's young stars have a chance to build dominance over time by accumulating record numbers of national titles. This would be a valuable shift away from the narrow focus on extreme performances in isolated, individual meets.

Devon Allen's reaction times: Track & field's rules and tech need to keep up

20 July 2022 George 0 Comments

Athletes should react quickly. Institutions should not. Somewhere between Devon Allen’s reaction time and the pace of change in track & field is the appropriate speed for the sport to rethink its false start protocols to account for a honest outlier.

Contract speculation drives two things track & field doesn’t have: Revenue and transparency

14 July 2022 George 0 Comments

Basketball has Adrian Wojnarowski. Soccer has Fabrizio Romano. Football has Adam Schefter. Track & field has no such person and, if some pro athletes and a large part of the fan base has their way, never will.

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