Jasmine Todd competes during the finals women’s long jump at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Eugene, Ore. EUGENE, Ore. – Long before this Willamette Valley college town declared itself “Tracktown USA,” North Eugene High School vice principal Bob Newland and Bill Rau, like Newland an Oregon Track Club official, appeared before the U.S. Olympic Committee on August 11, 1971, in New York.
It was the last time American track and field failed to take the persuasive powers of Eugene and its allies seriously. Tracktown USA describes its mission as elevating “the sport of track and field in the mind of the American public and to enhance the profile of the Eugene-Springfield region and the entire State of Oregon as ‘Track Town USA’ – the premier destination for track and field meets in North America.”
Tracktown USA, bolstered by more than $40 million in government support between 2013 and 2022, according to Internal Revenue Service filings and other financial documents, has been so good at fulfilling that mission, that meet promoters and local sports commissions in major markets and in traditional track and field destinations said not only can they no longer compete with Eugene to land top U.S. meets like the Olympic Trials, but in some cases, they have simply stopped trying.
The Olympic Trials not only have the ability to shape the lives of their participants but they also impact the communities that host them. The 2016 Trials, the last Trials held before the coronavirus pandemic, had a $37 million economic impact on Eugene and Lane County. In other words, Eugene, for all its history and investment and commitment to track, won the 2024 Olympic Trials by default.
Tracktown USA began 2022, the most recent year for which IRS filings are available, with $55 million in assets, or 100 times more than the Des Moines Area Sports Commission’s $555,395 in assets. Between 2016 and 2021, Tracktown USA spent $322,500 on lobbying, more than the $300,000 Mt. SAC spent in total on bidding for and then organizing the 2020 Trials.
“I think we would definitely all love to see that,” said Thomas, an Olympic bronze and Worlds silver medalist at 200 meters. “I definitely think it’s time. You see how easy it is to get to other cities. Eugene is really hard to get to and it’s not feasible for a lot of people to try and make their dream happen.