USA Track and Field "Stop Crippling"

Recently, Nick Symmonds has attracted alot of media attention with his campaign to challenge the national and international governing bodies of track & field to “stop crippling” the sport by limiting an athlete’s ability to feature the logos of multiple sponsors on the competition uniform. This raises a bigger, more general question about the marketing and promotion of the sport that USATF addressed this week in a move that has, itself, has gained a lot of attention.

After years of issues and difficulty between the governing body of USATF and the Athletes themselves, the athletes are starting to take actions. With the very minimal commercials lately and drastic drop in popularity of the sport, officials at USA Track & Field have decided to take a new approach by hiring an external firm to restructure its marketing and communications efforts. Some have questioned the way they went about hiring Max Siegel Inc., as well as the potential conflicts of interest with the principal, Max Siegel, being a recently departed board member. Still, the more important question for USATF members and athletes is, can this move finally put track back on the map?

You don’t have to be a professional track & field athlete or even a serious fan to know that the marketing and promotion of the sport and its stars has been a challenge of late. Gone are the days of national advertising campaigns that featured our sports biggest names. With the exception of one or two international athletes, the average citizen wouldn’t the recognize images of America’s track stars, even when they consistently top the podium in major competitions.
Four-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist Dwight Phillips, he said he is optimistic that any change is good change.

“I think it’s going to work. When I travel to other countries what I notice is that no matter if someone is a runner or a thrower, if they’re winning they are on everything. The more the public sees us out there, the more interested they will become in watching and supporting us.” While Dwight did mention that moving toward the NASCAR blueprint of numerous sponsorships for individuals would give us a shot at the earning potential of other professional athletes, he also concedes, “We’ve got to start somewhere, this is a positive step.”

Following Post came from here:
http://blog.gotracktownusa.com/2011/10/24/dwight-phillips-weighs-in-on-usatfs-bold-bid-for-change/

Nick Symmonds created a Facebook group about crippling Track & Field:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/162889787132224/

Nick Symmonds FULL Argument:
http://www.flotrack.org/blog/38650-Im-Tired-of-USATF-and-IAAF-Crippling-Our-Sport