USATF, Eugene Hope Olympic Track & Field Trials Will Boost Sport

Hayward Field Undergoes $8M Renovation Ahead Of U.S. Olympic Trials

PRE'S PEOPLE: In Portland, John Hunt wrote under the header, "Hayward's History Should Dazzle Visitors, Viewers." UO "might be nouveau riche in other sports, but track and field has a long and storied history in Eugene, and that's what the university will be marketing to visitors and to a network television audience." UO AD Pat Kilkenny: "Everything we do this day and age is about differentiation." NBC Sports Coordinating Producer Sam Flood said of the event, "We'll obviously take advantage of the location, the history -- that fact enhances the story telling." Hunt noted Eugene's Museum of Natural & Cultural History will include an exhibit featuring the "history of shoes, from 10,000-year-old sandals to, yes, Nikes" (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/22). This year's event will mark the fourth Trials at Hayward Field, and the first since '80 (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/22).

LET'S DO IT AGAIN: In Philadelphia, Frank Fitzpatrick reports city officials, "flush with the success" of last weekend's U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, will "now turn their attention toward landing an event in advance" of the 2010 Vancouver Games. Philadelphia Sports Congress Dir of Olympic Opportunities Jess Myers: "We're very interested in hosting the short-track speedskating trials or maybe some other sport." More than 41,000 fans attended the four sessions of the Trials at the Wachovia Center, which concluded Sunday night before a crowd of 14,920. Myers added that she "expected that the number of hotel rooms filled for the event would be higher than anticipated" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/24).

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