Does Track & Field Have A Popularity Problem? Or A Marketing Problem
How Sports Betting, Marketing and A North American Athletics League Could Impact The Sport
The NHL Playoffs are in full swing right now, and as this die-hard St. Louis Blues fan was watching game 7 vs. Dallas with his knees in his chest; I realized just how bad Track & Field is at marketing itself. During the course of the game, viewers were bombarded with commercials for other NBC owned entities — Premier League final weekend, Stanley Cup Finals, The Indy 500, The upcoming Preakness Stakes… but not one mention of this weekend’s IAAF World Relay Championships which will air on NBC Sports Gold this weekend.
Not a single mention.
Nascar… a sport that is drastically worried about a shrinking fanbase, had at least 8 15 second spots throughout the course of the double overtime thriller. It’s in NBC’s best interest to run a promotion for an event airing on their streaming service… yet there is nothing. What does this tell you about Track & Field in general? The interest… just isn’t there right now… and leading into an Olympic year it is a very bad spot to find ourselves. So how do we change that?
