So now that the official announcement of the IAAF Diamond League is a couple of weeks behind us, and I’ve had time to gather my thoughts, I figured I’d take a quick break from studying for final exams and writing papers to share some of  those thoughts. Let me start off by saying that I LOVE my sport. If you know me, you know that I’m a huge fan of pretty much all sports, but I am truly passionate about athletics from top to bottom; 100m or javelin to 10,000m and shot put. What has been apparent recently is that the reception of athletics amongst fans and sponsors has not been what it necessarily should be between Olympic years. Sure every four years, track and field beats out gymnastics and swimming for the most popular sport at each Olympiad but as we all know, there are tons of very significant events and worthwhile individual storylines in “the mean and in between.”

For what is considered the second most popular sport worldwide (2nd to football…as in FIFA football, of course) as far as sheer numbers of participants and fans are concerned, athletics has suffered from relatively poor fan reception particularly outside of Europe.  So since 1998 the main staple of the IAAF’s World Athletics Tour/Series, the Golden League, was an attempt to generate interest and improve the sport’s following as fans kept up with certain athletes attempting to win a $1 million jackpot. It was eventually recognized that from a business standpoint,  the Golden League with all its meets in Europe, wasn’t doing enough to improve the sport’s appeal where it needed the most help. On top of that, fans began to scratch their heads as it seemed like the top athletes in each event would duck and dodge one another; which doesn’t seem to happen in tennis for example, which is the non-team sport people seem comfortable comparing athletics to. I feel that, unlike athletics, the fact that there is generally more money in tennis allows Rafael Nadal to lose to Roger Federer or vice versa, and not suffer as much monetarily as far as future appearance fees and winnings are concerned; but that is an entirely different issue. But let’s not forget the fact that the majority of athletes were unhappy with the “League” since it seemed to feature the saaaame “big money” events year in and year out. In comes the Diamond League – Year One: 2010.

Now, since I’m not a several or even single time gold medalist of a global event (yet?) or world record holder, the chance of me becoming a Diamond League Ambassador like Blanka Vlasic, Sanya Richard, Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay to name a few, is roughly…zero. It is easy to recognize that the concept of the Diamond League is several times sweeter if you’re an ambassador getting paid by the IAAF for your participation than if you’re an athlete such as myself just looking to get invitations to the meets. The 9 ambassadors even have it better than those other truly top tier-athletes a la LaShawn Merritt or Allyson Felix who will just be competing as part of the Diamond Race. Is it unfair? Perhaps; especially since as the series is organized now, a hammer thrower could never be an ambassador since the event is excluded from the Diamond League! However, for athletics as a whole, I think having our biggest athletes committed to a certain number of events AND committed to compete against one another in the case of the Men’s 100m is a step in the right direction. It is an easy way to generate interest in the sport and in those particular meets where these athletes will be competing. On the matter of compensation for non-ambassadors, as far as I know the total amount to be paid to athletes has been increased a great deal over the Golden League (which is admittedly due in part to the fact that there will be more events contested at each meet) and the points leader in each event at the end of the season will be presented with a diamond worth, who knows how much; but it’s still something right? As a whole it seems as if the possibility for compensation for each athlete is greater than it was in years prior.

Another positive of the Diamond League is the fact that it includes meets outside of Europe. If the goal of the sport is to generate as many fans as possible, then bringing quality competitions right to those fans you’re attempting to sway has got to be the most efficient way to accomplish that task. I fully recognize that the majority of people in the stands will be there to see Yelena Isinbayeva or Kenenisa Bekele attempt world records rather than the triple jump but once fans are in the stands they no doubt become viewers of everything going on in the stadium since, I would hope, people don’t plan on buying a ticket to watch a single event and leave afterwords! At some point, you’ve just got to get people to watch the sport, live or otherwise in order to allow them to fall in love with it. That’s assuming that improving television broadcasts is an ongoing goal, as it should be.

In addition to the fact that it is a shame that the hammer throw isn’t included, I really hope that those meets that existed outside of the Golden League and allowed athletes to get high level competition, and another means of compensation for their months and months of intense training efforts, don’t suffer. After all, the percentage of athletes who will be competing at Diamond League meets is no doubt still relatively low.