Inside the 'crazy' plan to boost track and field's popularity before the 2028 Olympics
With a gold-medal stride and an image gracing Nike marketing campaigns, Sanya Richards-Ross was one of the United States' most successful track and field stars during her decade-plus career — a stature she sustained, every year, by leaving the United States.
The strongest competition, attention and most lucrative paydays each summer came in the Diamond League, the sport's Europe-centric circuit.
Returning home, she noticed a "huge difference."
"We used to compete in Carson and we used to have a decent meet there, but there were so few track meets in L.A.," Richards-Ross said. "You think about the big cities in the United States — L.A., New York, Miami, those places that have such vibrant culture and people love to be entertained. We always wondered why there weren't greater opportunities for us to compete in those places?"
That is set to soon change. And it's one part of an ambitious plan on which track and field's U.S. and global leaders are staking the future of the sport in the country.
USA Track & Field will begin a circuit of meets in five U.S. cities next summer that its chief executive, Max Siegel, likened to the Diamond League in the quality of its international fields. Los Angeles will host one meet, Siegel said, adding a desire to reach fans particularly in hotbeds such as Florida, Texas and California.
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