The 2023 track and field season began with a series of highs and lows for the athletes and fans alike. Apart from the record-breaking journey of sprinting stalwarts such as Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, the sport has also encountered a few setbacks this year. One of the biggest blows to the honor of the sport came during the 2023 US track and field championship when a long-time media partner refused to air the championships on their platform for free.

NBC Sports has the broadcasting rights for the US track and field championship for many years. But before the 2023 USATF National Championship, the media house decided to stop streaming the event on the free live TV. Instead, they resolved to capitalize on the growing viewership in track and field and streamed it on paid channels.

Many athletes, especially Sha’Carri Richardson, were unhappy with this move and saw in it a lack of support for their hard work. Athletes depend on media representation to attract brand deals, which makes it possible for them to invest in their careers. Seeing the blatant disregard for the athlete’s interests from the USATF and NBC, many are anticipating the twilight years of the sport.

Track and Field’s unsettling plunge

A sports blogger, Joe Pompliano, used his Twitter account to highlight the pay disparity in the track and field world. Since his post, the internet has blown up in a heated discussion. Rori Dunk, another sports commentator, picked up where Joe left off and wrote, “World Athletics paid out $8,498,000 at the recent World Champ in Budapest, what % of the profits was this?”

He used a table of pay percentages in other sports to answer his question. The World Athletics Championship had $8.5 million set aside to pay the participants. Although it might seem like a big amount, the pot is divided among multiple top-finishers.

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The highest an athlete can earn is $70,000, which is only if they win the race. If they come eighth, they only get paid $8,000, which is insufficient to cover the competition’s travel and living expenses.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson offered his seal of approval to Rori Dunk’s post, commenting, “It’s a constant assumption WA make lots of money and lack transparency. Annual financial reports available on their website. Problem is twofold: 1) Not as much as people like to believe. $17m loss on revenue of only $54m in 2022. 2) Little money shared by thousands of athletes”.

In such a situation, athletes depend on brand deals, but the media representation has deepened their chasm of worries.

Track and field in representation crisis

American sprinting icon, Noah Lyles was also peeved by the lack of media representation at the USATF National Championships. He wanted to bring his crew to the tracks, but the rules forbade it.

Following this incident, Lyles decided to shoot his docuseries with Peacock. His sting was soothed when Netflix came forward with a lucrative offer that the USATF could not refuse. In the view of the $180,000,000,000 streaming giant, track and field has the same level of revenue potential as Formula One and Tour de France. Thus, they are making a documentary series covering a plethora of top-tier athletes where they can tell their stories.

Following this, in an interview with the Guardian, Lyles stated, “I feel we have a great sport. Bit I am a firm believer that track and field is just not marketed the right way. We could do a better job in selling ourselves and selling our stories.” He further added, “I am very excited for the Netflix thing because I believe it’s going to show our good and our bad.”

Sha’Carri Richardson, too, saw hope in this offer and hushed her warcry against NBC. She was on the warpath against the news giant claiming that NBC was exploiting track and field sport for their gain. She wrote, “These companies continue to make it HARDER for track and field to have exposure!!! All they want is to continue to exploit sports!!!”

She expressed her rage because the World Track & Field Championships Oregon 22 was the most-watched track and field championships in the history of the sport. In 2022, the total viewership was 18.7 million, and the hype was supposed to carry over to the next season.

Is there hope for a change?

Track and field lack the hype that leagues such as the NBA and NFL enjoy. To make things worse, the pandemic has dried up the wallets of many potential investors. Therefore, many track and field events are reeling from a financial crisis.

Recently, the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix was also canceled when the organizers could not come up with the necessary funds. The USATF may be heading in the same direction as their British counterpart. In that regard, a popular sports channel on Twitter had a revealing fact.

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Raes Take TV wrote, “Believe it or not it was actually half. They generated roughly $15.85 million in sponsorship dollars for the 2023 WC. It’s not the WC that’s the robbery…it’s the Diamond League! That’s where the OFF Set in payout percentage is”.

Thus, to confirm Michael Johnson’s statements, the World Championships did face financial troubles. World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon acknowledged this and said, “…we are very aware of the responsibility of making sure you can make a good living out of athletics, and the Diamond League is a central element to that. But we’ve still got a long way to go”. Is it too late now to hope for a reversal now? Comment with your thoughts below.

Watch this story: Moments Before the Eugene Diamond League, Sha’Carri Richardson, Earns Respect with Her Modesty Towards Her Rivals