If you’ve ever wondered why a guy who can run 100 meters faster than virtually every human who has ever lived might still be less commercially valuable than a mediocre second-string NFL quarterback, welcome to track and field.
Phenomenal athletes.
Terrible business model.
This past weekend, World Athletics tried something different.
What Is the World Athletics Ultimate Championship?
The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship ran Sept. 11–13 in Budapest, bringing roughly 400 elite athletes into a compact three-evening championship designed specifically as a season-ending showdown. Olympic champions, world champions, Diamond League winners and top-ranked athletes were thrown together without the sprawling week-plus format we’re accustomed to seeing at major championships.
And then they did something truly radical.
They paid them.
The total prize purse was $10 million, the largest in track-and-field history, with individual champions receiving $150,000.
A $10 Million Purse Could Change the Game
Suddenly everybody can run faster.
I’m kidding.
What I like about this format is that somebody finally acknowledged an uncomfortable reality: elite sport is also entertainment.
Purists hate that idea, but we’re getting tired of them.
Nobody is suggesting we replace the 1500 meters with contestants being chased by a pit bull. But professional athletes have extraordinarily short earning windows. Their bodies are the equipment, and unlike a NASCAR engine, you can’t rebuild them with parts from Summit Racing.
If you want the best athletes to race each other more often, make it worth their while. And Budapest produced exactly the kind of matchups the concept promised.
In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos ran 45.98, the third-fastest performance in history, defeating Olympic and world champion Rai Benjamin, who ran 46.40. Former world-record holder Karsten Warholm was third in 46.78.
Add some money and these guys all of a sudden are trying to tear the track out of the ground.
Josh Kerr won the 1500 in 3:29.35, holding off Cameron Myers at 3:29.68. Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw took the women’s 5000 in 14:30.36. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage detonated a 91.09-meter final-round javelin throw to win his event.
The compressed format also creates something television desperately needs: consequences.
In the men’s hammer, only the top six survived beyond round two. Olympic and world champion Ethan Katzberg fouled his first two throws and was finished. Germany’s Merlin Hummel won at 81.46 meters.
Brutal. Not to mention compelling television.
A Faster Format Gives Track a Television Hook
Traditional track meets can be magnificent if you’re already a track fan. To the civilian viewer, however, they can resemble eight different sporting events accidentally occurring in the same stadium.
Ultimate is trying to solve that. Three nights. Stars. National teams. Limited fields. Faster progression. Real money. Somebody wins and somebody goes home pissed off.
Sound familiar? That’s because it’s basically every successful professional sport.
There will be legitimate complaints. Compressed formats can punish athletes who peak for traditional championships. Invitation and ranking systems inevitably create arguments about who gets left out. Reducing attempts in field events introduces more volatility—as Katzberg discovered rather spectacularly.
But volatility isn’t necessarily a defect. If everything lines up right it can also be drama.
Bodybuilding figured this out long ago. The Olympia isn’t compelling because we’re fascinated by tanning products and quarter turns. It’s compelling because once a year the best people stand next to each other and somebody has to lose.
World Athletics has finally taken that principle and added serious money.
Good.
Because “the honor of competition” is wonderful. But honor doesn’t make mortgage payments.