Source: Olympic Champions Lyles, Holloway Lead 2025 adidas Atlanta City Games’ Return to Piedmont Park
Track and Field is the most difficult sport to promote and create events for. Fans who aren’t familiar with meets don’t have an understanding of the length of a track meet. Various sources state:
The average length of an NBA game is approximately 2.5 hours, including timeouts and commercial breaks. The average MLB game is about 3 hours and 6 minutes. For NFL games, the average length is typically around 3 to 4 hours, including timeouts and commercial breaks.
A professional track meet can go from 3 to 6 hours and if all events are included, the event typically takes place over an entire weekend. This makes the events difficult to monetize and it is extremely difficult to grow the sport.
It’s much easier to film and operate a marathon which is why many budgets for brands resort to distance running events as a strategy to sell running shoes. Distance running and jogging are also less physically difficult which makes it easier to organize group runs and support communities to connect with consumers.
Track and field though has a hidden opportunity very similar to distance running and marathons. You can participate in track events for your entire life. The sport is a powder keg for brands willing to invest. This can be seen in the recent work done by New Balance at their facility The Track.
These numbers were for a high school event. In many ways, high school track and field is more prominent than professional track in the U.S. Pro track only shines during an Olympic year. In the last year this has begun to change. Athlos NYC last year and Grand Slam Track (this year) are trying to find the right combination to make the sport more attractive.
adidas, who recently hosted a high school national event in March, has been working at making track more mainstream by breaking down the sport and placing the competition where the people are. There is a discussion on how adidas isn’t completely connecting the dots which will be introduced later in this post.
adidas Atlanta City Games
In 2016, adidas began hosting the Boost Boston Games. adidas eventually shifted the event to Atlanta’s 1996 home of the Olympic Games, Centennial Park. The result has led to one of the most viewed LiveStream professional track and field events in the U.S. It helps that the brand’s sponsored ambassadors are in competition and the high school athletes, aka the future of track and field, gets a chance to compete in the same event. This brings parents and fans together and has helped contribute to an event that comes in at just under 3 hours.
Connecting the Dots Completely
This site has discussed the Atlanta City Games on several occasions and each year the same issue is raised. adidas has the blueprint in place to develop a concept for expanding track in the U.S., but the brand falls short in capitalizing on the event. Their recent High School Indoor Championship showed how their marketing strategy for track is disjointed. The problem there was different but is primarily a side of the same coin.
In the infographics above for the brand sponsored Indoor National Championships the data clearly shows how New Balance’s investment in both physical facilities for track and digital support of track have created incredible engagement for New Balance. This is because New Balance both hosted and licensed their presentation of the competition. New Balance then took the longer livestream and presented breakout videos increasing viewership.
Earlier the topic of “connecting the dots completely” was stated. What does this mean? The Livestream from the Atlanta City Games 2024 has reached over 100,000 views. This isn’t bad on the surface, but there is a recurring issue:
adidas’ biggest issue lands on the digital team. They never created video chapters of the YouTube livestream. Video Chapters is a great feature allowing the channel to highlight moments in a video. The digital team never took the time to create chapters. The team also never took the time to create breakout performance videos.
The amount of time and effort adidas places into their sponsored events always fall short. In a year where Grand Slam Track is arriving, the Diamond League has increased payments and the World Championships will close out the year, track and field will be able to build on the Olympic year and generate more coverage than ever. This means more young people will gravitate towards the sport. I can see this at our weekly track meets. There are more teams entering meets from around the region than in past years.
The adidas Atlanta City Games have the potential to be a considerable shot of energy for the Three Stripes. The brand is already leading the charge, but this year it would be great to see breakout moments or digital chapters added for the livestream. It would also be amazing to see the event expand at the high school level via a partnership with AAU or USATF. adidas is sitting on a mountain of gold… all they have to do is excavate.