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Eugene awarded 2021 IAAF World Championships


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During the afternoon session of the second day of its meeting in Beijing, IAAF Council awarded Eugene, USA, the 2021 IAAF World Championships.

The proposal to award the IAAFs premier competition to Eugene, bypassing the usual bidding process, was taken in response to what was seen as a unique strategic opportunity to host the IAAF World Championships for the first time in the USA.

The decision followed a presentation to the IAAF in recent months by Eugene, USA. The candidature of the city from the State of Oregon and USATF, who mounted a failed bid last November for the 2019 edition of the championships, uniquely combined the commitment of the funding by the governor of Oregon with the support of the United States Olympic Committee and the commitment of NBC to produce and broadcast in cooperation with Universal Sports the championships live across America.

Councils decision was taken in order to grant the sports access to one of the most historically successful countries in athletics as well as the most powerful economy in the world.

There have been precedents in the past, most recently in the awarding of the 2007 IAAF World Championships to Osaka, Japan, which was also done without a bidding process.

In granting the championships to Eugene the IAAF Council have made a clear choice on a strategic decision that enables us to take advantage of a unique opportunity that may never arise again, whereby public authorities, the private sector, the national Olympic Committee, NBC and a particularly enthusiastic public are joining forces, commented President Diack.

Although this decision departs from the usual procedure, I am delighted that my Council colleagues understood the enormous opportunity presented to us to access a key market and have taken a decision in the interest of the global development of our sport, concluded President Diack.

Vin Lananna, who led Eugene's bid for the championships, commented: "I thank President Diack, the Council and USATF President Stephanie Hightower and CEO Max Siegel in supporting the bid. We promise to deliver an outstanding championships for the sport of track and field in America and around the world."

http://www.iaaf.org/news/press-release/eugene-awarded-2021-iaaf-world-championships

Edited by Rob.
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I think this is brilliant - a sporting event being awarded to a place where they actually like the sport... who'd have thought! I think smaller cities are perfect for the IAAFs - there's a limited amount of accommodation needed and only 1 main stadium. I would like to see other mid sized / regional cities get a chance to shine like Eugene. I always thought Sheffield should have been allowed to host the 2005 champs when London withdrew... it had all the facilities, just not much of an international profile.

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This was pretty much the only way the USA could host. But there has to be some anger from other potential bid cities that have built huge stadiums in the hopes of winning the right to host events like these. And then to see a town without even an international airport win the right to host . . .

EDIT: And here we go.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/16/iaaf-2021-world-athletics-championships-eugene?CMP=share_btn_tw

Edited by Nacre
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In 2 minds about this- do we really want Federations to just suddenly chose venues for big events behind closed doors with no transparency or competition? But open competitions have lead to Qatar 2022 for example....

BUT it is great to see the US host the IAAF World Champs, though would have been a nice showcase for a big city like Chicago or NY.

Time for the US to host the FINA World Champs now too.

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At the end of the day the IAAF owns the championships and can do whatever they want with them. In this case it is a bit of a masterstroke. If they were handing them to Moscow or Baku like this it may raise more questions. Eugene is a 100% genius move - huge $$$ will flow their way and raise the profile of a popular sport in a huge market. Yes - Seattle, Boston, LA etc may be better picks but Eugene is pretty much the US home of track and field.

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In 2 minds about this- do we really want Federations to just suddenly chose venues for big events behind closed doors with no transparency or competition? But open competitions have lead to Qatar 2022 for example....

BUT it is great to see the US host the IAAF World Champs, though would have been a nice showcase for a big city like Chicago or NY.

Time for the US to host the FINA World Champs now too.

No stadiums in New York and Chicago though.

FINA Worlds have always been a wonder for me too, but it maybe that there aren't really any large aquatic centres within the States to supplement an arena. I mean maybe Indianapolis could host. They hosted the 25m worlds before.

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No stadiums in New York and Chicago though.

FINA Worlds have always been a wonder for me too, but it maybe that there aren't really any large aquatic centres within the States to supplement an arena. I mean maybe Indianapolis could host. They hosted the 25m worlds before.

And no world class stadium in Eugene either for that matter!

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Just to be clear, my point in bringing up the airport is the cost and ease of travel there. People are going to have to make a lot of connections like Nairobi-Paris-New York-Portland-Eugene. Hosting it in New York or Miami would be a lot easier for the athletes and officials. And thus there will be a ton of complaints by the people who end up inconvenienced. And then there's the officials who end up staying in a two star hotel in Eugene instead of a five star hotel in New York or Miami.

Most of that is just as true in small cities in Sweden too, though. Groningen wouldn't have been chosen by vote either; with a vote the IAAF would have chosen a city like Baku or Shenzen.

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Just to be clear, my point in bringing up the airport is the cost and ease of travel there. People are going to have to make a lot of connections like Nairobi-Paris-New York-Portland-Eugene. Hosting it in New York or Miami would be a lot easier for the athletes and officials. And thus there will be a ton of complaints by the people who end up inconvenienced. And then there's the officials who end up staying in a two star hotel in Eugene instead of a five star hotel in New York or Miami.

Most of that is just as true in small cities in Sweden too, though. Groningen wouldn't have been chosen by vote either; with a vote the IAAF would have chosen a city like Baku or Shenzen.

Oh well.

And a direct flight from NYC to Eugene could easily be added during the games to make traveling easier.

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Direct flight from New York to Eugene for this? Oh dear.

It's simple. Fly to Portland. Take MAX downtown to Union Station. Take Amtrak to Eugene. Don't start spending the airlines' money for them. Fair bet Amtrak can add trains for this event more easily than airlines can add inventory.

This is Nike's baby. Phil Knight will probably take care of stadium improvements and TEMPORARY expansion himself. Where there's generally a lot of bleachers, I'm guessing mostly a temporary concrete structure. I would expect an improvement and expansion of the main stands. The historic east side stand probably won't (and can't) be touched outside of some internal improvements. Of course, there might be a fair question about where capacity will actually be set... when it's possible that the big draw here could be enhanced NBC payout for the event and network prime time coverage. The real value may not be the spectator counts.

The organizers are talking about a "village" for athletes. Maybe the bigwigs as well? I'm sure that was a sticking point for 2019 bidding. I could pose an unannounced idea: Boise has a complex with a 4-star hotel and an attached hockey arena. There are rumors of Oregon starting a varsity hockey program, the current hockey facility is inadequate, so a development like that somewhere between campus and downtown Eugene wouldn't surprise me. Finding ways to add hotel rooms locally would be somewhat smarter than keeping constant shuttles between Eugene and Portland, which is otherwise more likely.

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So will Hayward Field get a complete renovation? It currently has a capacity of 10k-20k, which is extremely limiting compared to the stadiums being used for the championships before it, past or future.

The stadium will be temporarily expanded to 30k (which btw is the minimum required by the iaaf)

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Somewhat split about the Federation's decision to bypass the usual bidding process, without a prior discussion (no matter how superficial) of the merits of competing bids. In my view, it also helps the eventual winner sharpen their message and improve on their plans.

Apparently, Gothenburg was quite interested in the championships as well and would certainly have been a competitive applicant, if nothing else. Then again,

However, I find the idea of going to the home of track-and-field in the United States intriguing and refreshing: a big market of enthusiastic Athletics fans, a city eager to host it and a long overdue hosting by the United States make it an inspired move - especially after the megalomaniac Qatar mishap.

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Wow that's... pretty damn sad. That's gotta go on record as the IAAF World Championships' smallest edition as far as spectator capacity goes.

Quality; not quantity. And this int'l airport business...well, this is a 'new' business model.

It's not just flying in an insulated aluminum capsule, watching your event and then getting back into that pneumatic Tube out!! Maybe coming to Portland, seeing the beautiful Oregon countryside for what? an extra 2 hours...is the new paradigm. Just as folks in Qatar 2022 will be in their A/C hotels; take the A/C buses/monorail to the stadia; and then straight back to the A/C hotels; this IAAF meet will have a natural, outdoorsy feel to it -- a small, college town experience.

Maybe visitors can take a trip to Baker where that fabulous filmusical where Clint Eastwood sang, PAINT YOUR WAGON, was filmed! I know I would.

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I'm sure the athletes will be fine with it, but these events are almost always meeting places for the decision makers in their sports and businesses. The members of the IAAF are not going to want to go camping or horseback riding. They are going to want five star hotels, a good convention center, great restaurants and easy transportation. No one is going to want to rent a car to drive around Oregon with jetlag after twelve hours of flying.

It's a shame that the University of Oregon is not in Portland. Portland would actually be perfect for an event like this.

Edited by Nacre
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