2010 Attendance Report

Introduction
Earlier this year, Amy Shipley wrote an article for the Washington Post in which she claimed that track and field is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as a spectator sport. Among other evidence, she cited increased attendance.

I immediately questioned that statement. A few individual meets may have experienced increased attendance this year, most notably the Penn Relays. But on the whole we don’t know whether it is going up or down or neither, because there is no centralized accounting of attendance at domestic track meets. I took it upon myself to do so. I would estimate I sent several hundred e-mails to various journalists, coaches, ticket offices, finance directors and grad-assistant SIDs over the last few months to try to pin down attendance at various meets. Often I got no response at all, but most were quite helpful and sent me the information I needed.

The diversity of the sport makes compiling the information a challenge. Some meets announce their attendance and some do not. Some record the number of tickets sold and some only make estimates. Some meets are on a single day and others are over several days; some keep separate attendance figures for each day and others lump them all together.

Also, it's not always easy to determine what "attendance" is.  The Oregonian's Ken Goe, who always mentions attendance in his articles, notes that "official attendance figures usually are tickets-distributed figures, meaning the count includes anybody in the stadium, including athletes, media members, officials, coaches, concession workers, security officers, etc."

I classified meets into four categories: professional, college, high school, and relay carnivals. Many meets combine one or more of these, but the meet was assigned to the group which it primarily serves. Regardless of what it calls itself, a meet is a “relay carnival” if it serves all of the above, mixed together on the same day.

Attendance is suffixed with an “e” if the number is an estimate, and a “w” if inclement weather negatively impacted attendance.

The Numbers
All known single-day attendances of 4,000 or more

Attendance	Meet	Site	Date	Capacity	Pct
54,310	Penn Relays (day 3)	Philadelphia PA	April 24	52,593	103%
38,904	Penn Relays (day 2)	Philadelphia PA	April 23	52,593	74%
24,132	Penn Relays (day 1)	Philadelphia PA	April 22	52,593	46%
21,000e	Texas Relays (day 2)	Austin, TX	April 3	22,000	95%
19,770e	UIL Championships (day 2)	Austin, TX	May 15	22,000	90%
16,300e	UIL Championships (day 1)	Austin, TX	May 14	22,000	74%
14,932	IHSAA Championships (day 2)	Des Moines, IA	May 21	14,557	103%
14,504	Drake Relays (day 3)	Des Moines, IA	April 24	14,557	100%
14,000e	Texas Relays (day 1)	Austin, TX	April 2	22,000	64%
14,000e	IHSAA Championships (day 3)	Des Moines, IA	May 22	14,557	96%
13,000e	Kansas Relays (day 2)	Lawrence, KS	April 17	50,071	26%
12,872	adidas Grand Prix	New York, NY	June 12	10,000	129%
12,834	Prefontaine Classic	Eugene, OR	July 3	12,500	103%
12,812	NCAA D-I Outdoor Championships (day 4)	Eugene, OR	June 12	12,000	107%
12,772	OHSAA Championships (day 2)	Columbus, OH	June 5	10,000	128%
12,503	OHSAA Championships (day 1)	Columbus, OH	June 4	10,000	125%
12,053	IHSAA Championships (day 1)	Des Moines, IA	May 20	14,557	83%
11,972	NCAA D-I Outdoor Championships (day 3)	Eugene, OR	June 11	12,000	100%
11,510	Millrose Games	New York, NY	January 29	18,200	63%
11,172	NCAA D-I Outdoor Championships (day 2)	Eugene, OR	June 10	12,000	93%
10,013	Drake Relays (day 2)	Des Moines, IA	April 23	14,557	69%
9,891	NCAA D-I Outdoor Championships (day 1)	Eugene, OR	June 9	12,000	82%
9,837	OSAA 4A/5A/6A Championships (day 1)	Eugene, OR	May 28	10,500	94%
9,572	CIF Championships (day 2)	Clovis, CA	June 5	13,000	74%
9,024	USATF Championships (day 3)	Des Moines, IA	June 26	14,557	62%
8,463	USATF Championships (day 2)	Des Moines, IA	June 25	14,557	58%
7,786	CIF Championships (day 1)	Clovis, CA	June 4	13,000	60%
7,715	OSAA 4A/5A/6A Championships (day 2)	Eugene, OR	May 29	10,500	73%
7,437	USATF Championships (day 4)	Des Moines, IA	June 27	14,557	51%
7,124	USATF Championships (day 1)	Des Moines, IA	June 24	14,557	49%
7,036	Oregon Relays (day 2)	Eugene, OR	May 1	10,500	67%
6,732	Oregon Relays (day 1)	Eugene, OR	April 30	10,500	64%
6,118	Oregon Twilight	Eugene, OR	May 8	10,500	58%
5,918	Oregon Preview	Eugene, OR	March 21	10,500	56%
5,769	Drake Relays	Des Moines, IA	April 22	14,557	40%
5,700e	Jesse Owens Classic	Columbus, OH	May 1	10,000	57%
5,475	NCAA D-I Indoor Championships (day 2)	Fayetteville, AR	March 13	5,500	100%
5,321	Pepsi Team Challenge	Eugene, OR	April 10	10,500	51%
5,209	Men of Oregon v. UCLA	Eugene, OR	April 17	10,500	50%
4,904	USC at UCLA	Westwood, CA	May 1	11,700	42%
4,500e	MHSAA LP D-1 Championships	Rockford, MI	Junes 5
4,500e	MHSAA LP D-2 Championships	Zeeland, MI	June 5
4,484	IHSAA Boys' Championships	Bloomington, IN	June 5	6,200	72%
4,000e	Boston Indoor Games	Boston MA	February 6	3,500	114%

All known total attendances greater than 6,000

Attendance	Meet	Site	Days
117,346	Penn Relays	Philadelphia PA	3
45,847	NCAA D-I Outdoor Championships	Eugene, OR	4
41,000e	IHSAA Championships	Des Moines, IA	3
36,070e	UIL Championships	Austin, TX	2
35,000e	Texas Relays	Austin, TX	2
32,048	USATF Championships	Des Moines, IA	4
30,266	Drake Relays	Des Moines, IA	3
25,275	OHSAA Championships	Columbus, OH	2
25,000e	NSAA Championships	Omaha, NE	2
17,552	OSAA 4A/5A/6A Championships	Eugene, OR	2
17,358	CIF Championships	Clovis, CA	2
16,000e	Kansas Relays	Lawrence, KS	2
13,768	Oregon Relays	Eugene, OR	2
12,872	adidas Grand Prix	New York, NY	1
12,834	Prefontaine Classic	Eugene, OR	1
11,510	Millrose Games	New York, NY	1
10,816	MSHSL Championships	St. Paul, MN	2
9,900e	UHSAA Championships	Provo, UT	2
9,489	NMAA Championships	Albuquerque, NM	4
8,708	NCAA D-I Indoor Championships	Fayetteville, AR	2
8,525	FHSAA Championships	Winter Park, FL	4
8,435	IHSAA Championships	Bloomington, IN	2
7,565	OSAA 1A/2A/3A Championships	Monmouth, OR	2
7,500e	AIA Championships	Tempe, AZ	3
7,000e	New Balance Nationals	Greensboro, NC	3
6,909	Mt. SAC Relays	Walnut, CA	4
6,118	Oregon Twilight	Eugene, OR	1

Subdivided By Meet Type
Professionals

Attendance	Meet	Site	Date
12,872*	adidas Grand Prix	New York, NY	June 12
12,834*	Prefontaine Classic	Eugene, OR	July 3
11,510	Millrose Games	New York, NY	January 29
9,024	USATF Championships	Des Moines, IA	June 26
8,463	USATF Championships	Des Moines, IA	June 25
7,437	USATF Championships	Des Moines, IA	June 27
7,124	USATF Championships	Des Moines, IA	June 24
4,000e*	Boston Indoor Games	Boston MA	February 6
3,150*	USATF Indoor Championships	Albuquerque, NM	February 28
1,000e	California Relays	Sacramento, CA	May 29

* = sellout

Colleges
National Championships

Attendance	Meet	Site	Date
12,812*	NCAA Outdoor Championships (day 4)	Eugene, OR	June 12
11,972*	NCAA Outdoor Championships (day 3)	Eugene, OR	June 11
11,172	NCAA Outdoor Championships (day 2)	Eugene, OR	June 10
9,891	NCAA Outdoor Championships (day 1)	Eugene, OR	June 9
5,475*	NCAA Indoor Championships (day 2)	Fayetteville, AR	March 13
3,233	NCAA Indoor Championships (day 1)	Fayetteville, AR	March 12
2,939	NCAA Cross Country Championships	Terre Haute, IN	Nov. 23
1,798	NCAA West Preliminary Round (day 3)	Austin, TX	May 29
1,328	NCAA West Preliminary Round (day 2)	Austin, TX	May 28
1,092	NCAA West Preliminary Round (day 1)	Austin, TX	May 27

* = sellout

Conference Championships (final day only)
notable missing data: Big 12, SEC outdoor championships
All known data is listed

Attendance	Meet	Site	Date
2,500e	Heps Championships	Princeton, NJ	May 9
2,500e	IC4A/ECAC Championships	Princeton, NJ	May 16
2,038	Pacific-10 Championships	Berkeley, CA	May 16
1,454	Big Ten Men's Indoor Championships	Minneapolis, MN	Feb, 28
1,107	Big Ten Championships	Bloomington, IN	May 16
1,100e	Southland Championships	Arlington TX	May 16
1,000e	ACC Championships	Clemson, SC	April 17
1,000e	MPSF (indoor) Championships	Seattle, WA	Feb. 27
900e	Southland Championships	Arlington TX	May 15
631	Big Ten Women's Indoor Ch.	University Park, PA	Feb. 28
546w	Big East Championships	Cincinnati, OH	May 15
532	Mid-American Championships	Buffalo, NY	May 15
426	Mountain West Championships	Albuquerque, NM	May 15
398	Big Sky Championships	Ogden, UT	May 15
386	Atlantic Sun Championships	Jacksonville, FL	May 15

Regular Season
All known data is listed

6,118	Oregon Twilight	Eugene, OR	May 8
5,918	Oregon Preview	Eugene, OR	March 21
5,700e	Jesse Owens Classic	Columbus, OH	May 1
5,321	Pepsi Team Challenge	Eugene, OR	April 10
5,209	Men of Oregon v. UCLA	Eugene, OR	April 17
4,904	USC at UCLA	Westwood, CA	May 1
2,500e	Husky Classic	Seattle, WA	Feb. 13
2,100e	Michigan at Ohio State	Columbus, OH	April 3
850e	The Big Meet	Berkeley, CA	April 10
850e	Brutus Hamilton Invitational	Berkeley, CA	April 24
800e	Texas at Arkansas	Fayetteville, AR	Jan. 16
600e	Sea Ray Relays (final day)	Knoxville, TN	April 10
482	Nebraska at Texas Tech	Lubbock, TX	May 1
300ew	Washington at Washington State	Pullman, WA	May 1
300ew	Cougar Invitational	Pullman, WA	May 24
300e	Sea Ray Relays (first day)	Knoxville, TN	April 9
55	Arkansas at Texas	Austin, TX	April 17

High Schools
State Championships
Making comparisons between attendance at various state championships is difficult as there is a wide variety of formats. Some have many divisions, some (like California) have just one. Most are held over two days but others are held over three or four days. Some (such as Texas) hold all their divisions simultaneously; some (such as Ohio) hold them in succession; some (such as Michigan) hold them at separate sites, and some (such as Oregon) don’t hold them all on the same weekend. Below are the total attendances I have received, with notations as to format.

41,000e	IHSAA Championships	Des Moines, IA	3 days, 4 divisions
36,070e	UIL Championships	Austin, TX	2 days, 5 divisions
25,275	OHSAA Championships	Columbus, OH	2 days, 3 divisions
25,117	OSAA Championships	Eugene/Monmouth, OR	6 divisions, 4 days over 2 weekends
25,000e	NSAA Championships	Omaha, NE	2 days, 4 divisions
17,358	CIF Championships	Clovis, CA	2 days, 1 division
14,500e	MHSAA Championships	4 sites	2 days, 4 divisions
10,816	MSHSL Championships	St. Paul, MN	2 days, 2 divisions
9,900e	UHSAA Championships	Provo, UT	2 days, 5 divisions
9,489	NMAA Championships	Albuquerque, NM	2 days, 5 divisions
8,525	FHSAA Championships	Winter Park, FL	4 days, 4 divisions
8,435	IHSAA Championships	Bloomington, IN	2 days, 1 division
7,500e	AIA Championships	Tempe, AZ	3 days, 5 divisions
5,567	NCHSAA Championships	Greensboro, NC	3 days, 3 divisions
4,723	MPSSAA Championships	Baltmore, MD	3 days, 4 divisions
4,600e	KSHSAA Championships	Wichita, KS	2 days, 6 divisions

Invitationals
I was able to get attendance numbers from a few post-season elite invitationals.

7,000e	New Balance Nationals	Greensboro, NC	June 17-19
4,000e	Nike Team Nationals	Eugene, OR	July 2
1,800e	Great Southwest Classic	Albuquerque, NM	June 5
1,410	Midwest Distance Gala	Lisle, IL	June 12
1,000e	Golden South Classic	Orlando, FL	May 29

Relay Carnivals
Top multi-day attendances

117,346	Penn Relays	Philadelphia PA	3 days
35,000e	Texas Relays	Austin, TX	2 days
30,266	Drake Relays	Des Moines, IA	3 days
16,000e	Kansas Relays	Lawrence, KS	2 days
13,768	Oregon Relays	Eugene, OR	2 days
6,909	Mt. SAC Relays	Walnut, CA	3 days
3,600ew	Texas Southern Relays	Houston, TX	2 days (2nd day canceled after 4 events due to severe weather)
3,100e	Florida Relays	Gainesville, FL	2 days
2,675e	Sun Angel Classic	Tempe, AZ	2 days

Top single-day attendances
(no individual-day breakdown from Mt. SAC, Texas Southern, Sun Angel or Florida)

54,310*	Penn Relays, day 3	Philadelphia PA	April 24
38,904	Penn Relays, day 2	Philadelphia PA	April 23
24,132	Penn Relays, day 1	Philadelphia PA	April 22
21,000e	Texas Relays, day 2	Austin, TX	April 3
14,504*	Drake Relays, day 3	Des Moines, IA	April 24
14,000e	Texas Relays, day 1	Austin, TX	April 2
13,000e	Kansas Relays, day 2	Lawrence, KS	April 17
10,013	Drake Relays, day 2	Des Moines, IA	April 23
7,036	Oregon Relays, day 2	Eugene, OR	May 1
6,732	Oregon Relays, day 1	Eugene, OR	April 30
5,769	Drake Relays, day 1	Des Moines, IA	April 22
3,000e	Kansas Relays, day 1	Lawrence, KS	April 16

* = sellout

Analysis
Trends. The point of this data collection is to report data so it can be tracked over several years. The largest meets, however, have kept attendance data in the past.

Meet	2010	4-year avg	Change
adidas Grand Prix	12,872	6,248	+106%
NCAA Championships	45,847	29,682	+54%
USATF Championships	32,048	30,050*	+7%
Penn Relays	117,346	112,185	+5%
Drake Relays	30,286	30,322	level
Prefontaine Classic	12,834	13,409	-4%
Millrose Games	11,510	13,766	-15%

The adidas Grand Prix, formerly known as the Reebok Grand Prix, is only in its fifth year, and attendance was very low at first. A more apt comparison for that meet might be to 2009 alone, against which attendance rose 12%. Others were affected by various factors: the NCAA had the "Oregon effect", and Penn had the "Bolt effect". The Prefontaine Classic's attendance was down because the stadium configuration did not seat as many as in some past years; it was the meet's 13th consecutive sellout.

The USATF Championships were compared only to 2006, the last year without a Worlds or Olympics. Despite extreme heat on a few days, the attendance grew at a modest rate.

College track is by far the weakest. The NCAA Championships did set a record for total attendance, but largely that was due to its location in Eugene. “Track Town USA” had both men’s and women’s teams with championship aspirations, and so it’s hardly surprising that multiple days sold out. Other meets in Eugene were well-attended. After that, besides the NCAA indoor and cross-country championships, only three campuses had meets well beyond the 2,000 mark.

The weakness of conference championships was particularly surprising, although a number of factors undoubtedly played a role. Many were held in terrible weather. Also, as conference championships tend to rotate from institution to institution, some colleges have built somewhat of a fan base and others have not. Weak attendance for the Pac-10 and strong attendance for the Heps, IC4A, and the Big Ten men’s indoor championships were likely related to the host’s competitive strength and/or effort to build a fan base.

But, by and large, college meets are poorly attended because it’s not a priority of those who organize them. Brent Hoover, who runs the great HepsTrack.com site, said “For the most part, college track meets have become insular endeavors, designed only by coaches who often see a very narrow view of the sport. They would do well to take a much larger view of the health of the sport, but that requires some risk.”

High schools are our savior. Over the last few decades, leadership has fiddled while our sport burned. USATF gets the lion’s share of the blame for this, but I think there’s plenty to go around. Yet we’re still here and doing OK because our grass-roots are so strong. What exactly makes high school track so appealing to spectators is open to debate; you can cite community ties, ubiquitous team scoring, or relatively tightly-scheduled running events. Regardless, when Penn Relays director Dave Johnson said of Philadelphia that “high school track in this area is big, and good, and most track fans would be found at those meets”, he could have been talking about anywhere.

A criticism that seems strange is to say that most state championship attendees won’t ever come to another track meet. This would be like downplaying the Super Bowl because most people who watch it won’t watch any other football game. It’s true, but it doesn’t change its popularity. But also, state championships are an opportunity to introduce people to the sport--it is where I became hooked for life.

Relay carnivals are where it’s at. Dr. Norbert Sander, director of New York’s Armory Track & Field Center, knows this. In an editorial for Track & Field News, he wrote “We should try to bring these three groupings: high school, college, professional, on occasion, under one competitive roof. Show high schoolers what collegians are doing and show the pros what the collegians are accomplishing.”

Conclusion
Two competing adages should be kept in mind. The first is “what gets measured gets managed”. By knowing attendance and paying attention to it, hopefully we can get it to rise. The second is “you can’t fatten a pig by weighing it”, meaning that increasing attendance will require a lot of hard work and a change in priorities from athletes to spectators.