For first time since 2006, NBC will not provide live TV coverage of four-day track and field championship meet in Oregon, with two-hour Saturday and Sunday windows given to U.S. Women's Open Championship golf tournament

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos by Crash Kamon

EUGENE, Ore. – A confluence of circumstances means NBC will not have live television coverage of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships for the first time since 2006.

Irrespective of reasons, “It hurts,” sprinter Noah Lyles said Wednesday at a pre-meet news conference. “It hurts to see.”

TOYOTA USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS VIEWING INFO

USATF U20 CHAMPIONSHIPS WEBCAST INFO

PRESS CONFERENCE PHOTOS

Perhaps no one in the sport is attempting to popularize track and field more than Lyles. But his is one voice in a cacophony of noise surrounding the nationals, which begin a four-day run Thursday at Hayward Field.

From costs of travel to inadequate prize money to a network TV blackout, athletes have been outspoken this week about their frustrations.

It is not that live coverage has vanished. There will be six hours on CNBC and streaming on USATF.TV+ and Peacock.

It is not as simple as NBC hating the sport or USATF botching everything.

World Athletics set aside two weekends for national championships: July 8-9 or July 29-30. USATF chose the former.

Will Leer, chair of USTAF’s athlete advisory committee, said athletes accrue bonus points in world rankings if nationals are held in those windows. And world rankings have become increasingly important in qualifying for World Championships.

Also, Leer said, years of data have taught USATF what the ideal timeline is between its selection meet and a worlds or Olympics, and what is optimal for winning medals.

“Drawing things from data rather than personal preference, I think, is the way of the world moving forward,” Leer said.

Moreover, heat waves in Eugene in 2021 and 2022 influenced coaches and athletes to advocate for night competition, Leer said. A night meet on the West Coast is not going to land in prime time.

“We are prioritizing performance,” Leer said.

During this weekend’s Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships, NBC will televise the U.S. Women’s Open Championship golf tournament during the 4-6 p.m. EDT window Saturday and Sunday.

NBC is turning to Peacock for live streaming of Olympic sports – replacing what was once on the Olympic Channel – and even of sports like college football.

USATF’s media rights contract requires NBC to broadcast eight hours of live network coverage per year. In other years, much of that came from the outdoor nationals.

“If you count up most of the track meets that we have, we might have run out of those hours,” Lyles said. “That’s between them two (NBC and USATF) and what they’re doing. We just ran into a situation where we’re asking for a prime-time spot, and that takes money.”

It is incumbent on NBC to increase interest in the 2024 Paris Olympics, and it would be hard to identify a single track athlete with name recognition for a mainstream sports fan – irrespective of the greatness of Ryan Crouser or Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone or Anna Hall. Events like last year’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene or this week’s nationals are necessary for brand-building.

“This is something I would be thinking about or trying to figure out,” Lyles said of the NBC snub.

The sprinter has done more than think about the sport's promotion. He is doing something.

He races frequently, has a YouTube presence, introduced a pre-meet walk-in and has an upcoming docuseries on Peacock.

USTAF has been chided for continuing to locate its biggest events in a city of 175,000 in the Pacific Northwest. While Oregon-based Nike looms large over USATF because of its $400 million sponsorship deal lasting until 2040 and the majestic new Hayward Field, that is not simple, either.

It is a bidding process, and other cities have not overridden Eugene. Since 2006, the only other nationals locations have been Indianapolis (2006-07), Des Moines (2010-13-18-19) and Sacramento (2017). And the two most recent years at Drake Stadium in Des Moines was when Hayward Field was under construction.

“Time and time again, TrackTown comes to the table with the best bid,” Leer said. “At the end of the day, this is a business.”

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007