The following transcript was generated using automated transcription software for the accessibility and convenience of our audience. While we strive for accuracy, the automated process may introduce errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. This transcript is intended as a helpful companion to the original audio and should not be considered a verbatim record. For the most accurate representation, please refer to the audio recording.

MICHAEL DUNNE: I’m Michael Dunne. Obviously, there’s a lot of movement at a track meet, running, jumping, throwing and lunging, but behind the scenes, there’s an almost incalculable amount of moving and moving parts to set up a major track meet like the Prefontaine classic at Hayward Field today on the show, we’ll bring you conversations with the folks at Track Town USA, in charge of all that pre, during, and post movement, from making sure the athletes are comfortable to ensuring all the technology is firing to taking every measurement possible so the hurdles, pads, cages, starting blocks and more are in the exact right place at the exact right time. It’s organized chaos on the track and in the field. In short, it’s a race to make sure all the other races come off without a hitch. What you just heard were the footfalls of a track athlete getting in some practice laps before running in Eugene’s signature track event, the Prefontaine classic. But before this and more than 300 other elite athletes take their marks another small army of staffers and volunteers for Track Town USA get to work making sure the PRI and every other track meet at world famous Hayward field goes off as planned. I met Jody Smith, Chief Operating Officer of TrackTown USA, at Section 115 overlooking Hayward Field, and asked her how she and her team work with the individual teams and athletes setting up for a track meet.

JODY SMITH: We really work with their athlete representatives, and we actually book all their travel and make all those arrangements for them. So, we are actually getting them here, and not only from where they live and throughout the entire world, but then once they come into either Portland or Eugene, we’re getting them from the airport to their hotels, and then while they’re here, all their meals, all their transport, all their services are provided by us.

MICHAEL DUNNE: I know you said you love the details, so let’s, let’s get into the details a little bit in terms of, okay, let’s say like we’re here today before the Meet happens. Kind of walk us through the logistics of setup in terms of, you know, a day like today, before the Meet begins. How many people are going to be here doing this setup? Kind of, what are their main responsibilities of getting this, this hallowed field, ready for competition?

JODY SMITH: We break this down into different groups. So, we have a venue team that is focused on building the infrastructure and the overlay to have the tents you see on the fields outside or on the Marshfield district that will have for all the folks coming in to buy, retail, enjoy food, etc. They’re worried. They’re worried about the permitting. They’re worried about whether they have all the tables and chairs, etc. We have a brand team, as you look out as a venue today, that makes it look that special for the Prefontaine to celebrate the 50th so all the signage and decor, not only in Hayward field, but throughout the city, we have a sports team that is focused on getting the field of play and the competition ready, so making sure we have all the equipment, the timing company, the supplies that we need to conduct the competition, organizing, the technical officials. On top of that, we have a team that’s on the services side that’s making sure that the athletes have the information and know what to expect when they arrive. And then there’s a whole group dedicated to the transport and the catering, etc. And last but not least, we have a marketing team and a communications team that’s really focusing on telling the stories of the event.

MICHAEL DUNNE: One thing that I always love about Hayward Field is, in addition to being this grand facility, but it exists in a community, in a neighborhood, and I’m wondering too, talk about the coordination with Eugene police and with all the other entities.

JODY SMITH: So, we’re really lucky to have tremendous community partners, and we couldn’t deliver this event without those partners. First and foremost is the venue owner, the University of Oregon, and their team in athletics and campus. They are crucial to all the work that we have to do here at Hayward field and supporting us through those processes, of course, the city of Eugene and the city of Springfield and traveling County, they’re really helpful in those services that come from the city, whether it’s parking police, etc. And then I’ll partner on this too and deliver the event as the Oregon Track Club. So, we really rely on those community partners in order to have those with the items go well.

MICHAEL DUNNE: How does it work? I guess, you know, people might be familiar with the term the load in. I mean, obviously a lot of it is loading in athletes. But, I mean, talk about that, you know, as, as you say, your kind of, you know, the road is closed in front of the facility. Talk about how you manage, 300 athletes coming in. And of course, that represents, I don’t know how many support staff. It’s a lot of folks coming to town. How do you manage that, that herd, if you will, of people?

JODY SMITH: Certainly. I’ll talk about two parts. So, the load into the people and the athletes. There’s, you know, 300 athletes, but there’s about 500 people. So, their support staff, their coaches, their physios, their publicist, etc. They’re all coming into town too. So that’s the load into the people. And we have a team of about at this point, blossomed around close to 30 to 40 that are probably focused on that between full time staff and key vendors and partners to deliver the services the load into the venue, which is more about trucks and big infrastructure. So we got a broadcast coming in. We have Swiss timing and omega coming from overseas, and they’ll come with a couple semis, you know, speaking about the load in, there’s a lot of large groups that come in. There’s a lot of tech that comes in, so from our broadcast to our timing to our display boards. So those are big movements of stuff. And then we have, we work with local tent vendors that we’ve worked with for 15 years almost now. They’re really familiar, but it is a process to get all those tents put up and the tables and chairs, and hopefully it all is seamless and easy. There’s always surprises, but we have another team of about 20 people dedicated to that.

MICHAEL DUNNE: I’m glad you brought that up. You know, the Prius kind of Center Stage for track throughout the world. Talk about it in terms of, you know, managing famous people, managing their publicists, but also sort of, you know, obviously making sure that everybody, every athlete, feels like, I don’t know, they’re kind of special.

JODY SMITH: So certainly, you know, as you talk about who’s coming, we have over 48 gold medalists from the Olympics, close to 100 Olympic medalists and 14 world record holders that are coming in. Each one is different and, and, and we want to make sure we rise to whatever level of service they expect. But that’s true of all 300 athletes for us. So, we try to make sure that we do it not just for the ones that are in the news, but the ones that are maybe just having their first professional event. So, we make sure that we create those services that are for all but also, of course, we’ll do some things tailored, because we do ask of them while they’re here to be a partner in telling their stories and promoting the event.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Talk about the moving parts for a track meet and what it takes to get everything ready, and especially because, you know, for many of us, you know, spectators, it’s like, okay, they just go out and, you know, set up the hurdles. But I imagine, because obviously everything has to be sort of ratcheted down to the millimeter, talk about those logistics of getting sure that everything not only is in place, but is in place to a standard of such a high degree.

JODY SMITH: Well, this is something I’m really excited to talk about and very proud of. So, we are blessed to have the most beautiful Track and Field facility in the world as kind of our base, right? We start with the best, right? We also have the best crews in the world. In my humble opinion, the folks that deliver the Prefontaine are the ones that are delivering the events all season long. As you mentioned, regardless of the weather, they’re out there doing that role. So, they know exactly what they need to do and how to do it, and they’re very seasoned and very professional at it. So, we have that starter, the moving parts, that layer on top is really this, how we make it look. So, we add the look and feel. We add more elements. We’re bringing back these heritage athletes. We’re bringing back the alumni workforce, just like someone would plan out a minute-by-minute script. We actually do the same way for how athletes come from when they first check in to when they compete, we have a a movement and timing that is to the second and in coordination with our broadcast partner and our in stadium show to help make sure that all of that goes as planned and we have the best chance To celebrate the best moments on the field of play, because there is a lot going on, and we want to make sure we provide timings to showcase, hey, right now we’re going to bring you over the shot put to see, you know, an attempt at a world leading throw. So, with that said, when things don’t go as planned, you have to pivot in multiple ways to ensure we get back on track. So, the sporting area of track and field is complex because it is multiple events going on at the same time, and they all have to come together to form one event.

MICHAEL DUNNE: You brought up, something that I’m interested to kind of pursue is, when something goes wrong or something doesn’t go as planned. If you could reach back into your memory and at a meet was, is there, is there a particular of something that happened, where you’re like, wow, we really have to scramble now to try and accommodate this challenge.

JODY SMITH: Well, it’s always weather, okay? It’s often the weather. I think we can all remember those very hot days in 2021 after coming off of the COVID restriction, and we witnessed 114-degree days here in our city. And that was the last day of the Olympic trials, and we had to literally end the competition, go away and come back that night, due to the amount of movement of volunteers, contractors, athletes, etc. For that to happen, it took everybody to make that occur. But I will also say that night, when we all came back, was one of the most exciting nights of track and field here at Hayward field, with coal Hawker in the 1500 punching his ticket to the Olympics, with Sidney McLaughlin setting a world record, and we had the whole place lit up. Because nothing is more spectacular than Hayward at night. So often in the worst moments come the best times.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Especially someone like yourself that has to conduct so much. What does success look like when you know that everything has come off? What does it describe the feeling or just describe, sort of, you know, maybe there’s a post event meeting with your team, kind of, what does that look like and feel like to you?

JODY SMITH: Success is in the athletes faces, and is when they’ve had a chance to perform at their best. And that’s not just the person winning the races. It’s across the board, and it’s seeing them then connect with our spectators and our young fans and creating that energy between them. Because if they’re having fun and doing well, then we’re all having fun and doing well. So, to me, that is the mark of success. And within the team, it’s the same thing too. You know, we’re all going to come into this pretty exhausted, but then the first person jumps or throws or runs, and you see something spectacular, and you’re like, that’s why we do this. And you have to remember that, because there’s moments in the way you’re like, wow, it’s two o’clock in the morning, and I’m putting, you know, stickies on labels on an envelope, but it’s so we are all about making sure we’re doing the things. So, when the athletes get on the field to play, they just have to go out and compete.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Can you go to a track meet, another track meet, and be a fan? Or do you, do you kind of look at it and kind of critique what’s happening?

JODY SMITH: I think that’s true in every career I’ve been in, so to speak. But I can be a fan 100% and I can sometimes be a fan and shut off worrying about, hey, this could have been. This could have been. This could have been. It’s not but sometimes you do go, wow, if we had only done, you know, this kind of thing. But I’m going to go back to that answer so I can absolutely go to a track meet and be a fan. And you know, because athletes compete in all sorts of places, they’re just fun to watch, and what they do is really spectacular and beyond what most of us can think about doing with that. Said, when I go to an event, yeah, sometimes I have to shut off the event mind and just enjoy the competition and not think of what I would do if I had a chance to work on this competition.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Jody, my last question for you is this, we’ve talked about what a phenomenal place. This is Hayward field. Maybe, if you could share with us, maybe, some of your favorite comments you’ve ever got from either athletes or other colleagues of yours at other institutions. You know when they came here for the first time, is there a comment that you can remember that they said to you that filled you with pride, but also with an understanding of what a kind of almost like a, you know, a sacred honor it is to help manage this venue.

JODY SMITH: I hear that a lot. When they first arrive and kind of see it, or when you first walk out of the tunnel, I think it’s a really special moment, because it is unique in the sport to kind of have that welcome to the stadium, so to speak. But what to me is not just what we do as a hallmark of TrackTown USA and our events in Hayward Field. It’s about our spectators and our fans and how they get behind the athletes. So I think you’ll hear it time and time again, I heard them as I came around the corner, as I was preparing for my last attempt. I mean, they feel that power and energy behind them, and that lifts them, I think, to achieve better marks and better times. And that’s what’s fun, and that’s what I think is special about here, and that’s what I hear a lot.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Jody Smith, thank you so much for taking to us.

JODY SMITH Thank you.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Eli Rosen-Duran, Event Manager here at Hayward Field, you manage a lot of the tech. And I think that’s probably an area that fans don’t really see. Talk about how important technology is, both in terms of, you know, obviously the Meet logistics, but then also in sort of communication for the team.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: So I mean, tech is huge among both our internal and then all the fans and everything for our internal team. Of course, this meet is still a little day that we run a lot on paper, so people always have to be out printing things. And then, of course, the whole track and field, statistics and times and marks and distances and start lists, and that all comes via technology like all the timing, company, results, company services.

MICHAEL DUNNE: What are some of the biggest challenges with technology, making it all fit, making it all work. What are, you know, obviously, I imagine there’s, there’s so many requirements for WiFi and internet, talk about some of those biggest challenges that you have to overcome?

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: Honestly, yeah, because getting to WIFI we built a whole media section out in our back turf rec field, and there’s something out there the rest of the time. So, we got to go run all these internet services out there for all these photographers that got to upload gigabytes of files to the web, and all these reporters that got to get their news out published. So, we built a whole temporary infrastructure of Wi Fi and hardline internet for these guys.

MICHAEL DUNNE: I know a kind of a fairly recent piece of technology. I think it’s called the Wave light? Talk about that, because I think that’s fascinating, and I imagine that adds a whole other element for spectators.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: So the wave light has been something over the last few years, that it is a light system that goes around the track, and it’s 400 lamps that go under the inside track curb, and it’s programmed to run practically with the racers, so it stays at a steady pace, and the Meet directors and the coaches and the athletes kind of determine what that pace is going to pace is going to be. Say for a mile. If they’re trying to break some records, they go set at that record pace, and the athletes go off and chase it. And so it’s been huge, especially in record setting races where they’re chasing a record, and the athletes will pull up alongside this light, and then you can see them pull out in front of it. And the fans really engaged with that. Seeing the athletes beat the light sort of makes sense, because they’re beating the record, and you know, instantly, without having to wait for the results about what happened.

MICHAEL DUNNE: What are some of the other technologies that help enhance both the in-stadium experience for the spectators, but also on TV.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: Oh, there’s definitely a couple. The timing company that comes out here, omega Swiss timing, they have a couple technologies. Major one for the track athletes is chip tracking. So, they have little chips on their bibs, strapped to their chest that down to the millisecond they know where they are on the track. So, it’s huge about knowing the current speed of how fast they’re going, all the projected times. And then you could watch it and say, if there’s a clump of people you know, who actually is in first, instead of thinking like, Hey, I think it’s number seven that’s out in the lead right now when everyone’s wire to wire. So, the chip tracking, I think, is really neat technology, and we use it in the stadium on our scoreboards, and it goes to the TV graphics as well. On throws, they have virtual markers out in the field, about, hey, who has the best throw right now? Who’s one, two and three? So when someone goes for a javelin toss or a shot put, then you know right where it lands, looking on TV about what their mark might be, instead of waiting for measurements to come in from the laser.

MICHAEL DUNNE: When do you kind of go in, make sure the technology is installed, testing. Kind of take us through, sort of your timeline, you know, pre, during and post meet.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: So pre meet, I’m in an office year round, and kind of start querying with our technology partners. So, we bring in a lot of technology partners, broadcast team led, board team, a timing company and network services out here at University of Oregon, about hey, these are the plans we’re looking at. This is how we’re looking to lay it out. And then we go back and forth, get some agreements going, get a timeline going about, all right, about two weeks or so ahead of time, we’re going to start being on site. We’re going to start loading in everyone’s gear together, start setting it up. And so, we go from an office time to a delay. Delivery and a build out, and then we get to set up and start testing all this technology. And that’s where we are right now. We’re about three days out from the event and all the technologies got delivered, and then it’s time to start setting it up and lighting up some boards, plugging in some cameras. And so, our TV trucks got parked here yesterday. We got them all powered up, and then they’re starting to plug all their wires in the stadium. So, over the next few days, we’ll start seeing some video feed shoot across and by Friday, the day before the meet, we’ll have a test rehearsal, just pretty much of making sure everyone’s gear on the timing front, the broadcast front, the video board, the wave light, that it’s all plugged in and working like it should. So, Saturday we have no issues.

MICHAEL DUNNE: To the best of your ability, give me some numbers. Like, I don’t know how many feet of cable are necessary to put, you know, a meet together. How many people are responsible for technology, just anything that kind of contextualizes folks who have always just been spectators, but I’ve never, sort of seen the, you know, kind of the inside baseball, if you will.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: I can absolutely tell you about that. So, as we speak, I know our TV crew is running about 3,000 feet of cable to get up to their commentary position. Luckily, this being a new stadium, there’s wires that got put in everywhere. So, I can’t even speak how many wires are within the stadium, but the broadcast team will have about 100 people on site managing the NBC broadcast show, along with World feed, all their commentators, cameramen. It was three semi-trucks of TV trucks that pulled in the timing equipment came on about three semi-trucks as well, and that got shipped all the way from Europe, where it was timing the last diamond league meets and so that crew, Omega comes in with about 30 people as well to go set up these three full trucks worth of gear.

MICHAEL DUNNE: Eli Rosen-Duran, Event Manager for Track Town, USA, really appreciate you spending some time and talking with us.

ELI ROSEN-DURAN: Yeah, you too. Enjoyed it. Thank you.

MICHAEL DUNNE: That’s the show for today, all episodes of Oregon on the record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow on the show, we’ll talk with Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who, along with other state AGs, is in a pitched battle against some of the Trump administration’s legally questionable executive orders. I’m Michael Dunne, and this has been Oregon On The Record from KLCC. Thanks for listening.

Any avid viewer of Pardon the Interruption knows that each host has their favorite niche sports. For Michael Wilbon, one of those is track and field. This past weekend, Tony Kornheiser stepped into Wilbon’s lane and watched the Prefontaine Classic meet.

Monday on The Tony Kornheiser Show, the two hosts debriefed on the meet, which saw Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon break the world record for the women’s 1,500 meter. In the segment that followed, Kornheiser and Wilbon discussed why the sport has faded from the sports world’s imagination and waned in popularity over the years.

“There is a dearth of track and field in the United States and it is the death of a sport,” Kornheiser said.

“I understand why boxing died. I get that. I understand the social implications. I understand why horse racing died. You can bet on anything. And they’re horses. You can’t talk to ’em. There’s no human interest story. But I don’t understand why track and field died.”

Wilbon could not mount an easy explanation, but pointed out that football’s explosion in the 1970s gradually led to the decline in baseball and other sports like track and field.

“Things come and go. Baseball doesn’t have the popularity, the hold on America that it once had. You mention boxing and horse racing. The three biggest things for 75 years were baseball, boxing and horse racing,” Wilbon explained.

“Football, sometimes I have to explain … football became something glamorous in the 1970s. Seventies. And I don’t know, maybe it will hold on for another 75 years, maybe it won’t. I don’t know. So the coolest people are the ones that are celebrated, and right now in America, it’s football and basketball. It doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way forever. Track and field doesn’t seem to have that now.”

As for the present day, the hosts agreed that sports fans are dazzled by track and field every four years at the Olympics. But after that, it dissipates. The last track and field star to break through was Usain Bolt, whose penchant for breaking world records was impossible to ignore.

While a sport like baseball may not excite viewers with shorter attention spans, track and field doesn’t quite match up. It is an electric sport in which athletes compete one on one.

“I love track and field for the same reason you do. Because whoever breaks the tape, there’s no judge, there’s no ambiguity,” Kornheiser said. “You break the tape, you win the race. It’s as simple as that.”

There is no easy answer for what Kornheiser and Wilbon notice. Anyone who loves track and field can still watch it, but it is not a major sport any longer.

Image Credit, Vlad Vasnetsov

In the high-stakes world of college sports, where tradition has long been protected by the illusion of amateurism, the University of Connecticut is tearing up the old playbook. With over $81 million projected in athletic department revenue for fiscal year 2026, UConn is not only preparing for the post-NCAA settlement era—it’s attempting to own it.

At the heart of this reinvention lies one bold decision: start paying athletes directly, and do it before the rest of the pack figures out how.

UConn’s plan includes allocating nearly $18 million in direct revenue-sharing payments to its student-athletes next year, a figure that places it just shy of the NCAA’s imposed $20.5 million cap. That kind of aggressive commitment isn’t just a policy adjustment—it’s a cultural declaration. For decades, players generated billions in TV deals, merchandise sales, and ticket revenue while watching their coaches and athletic directors grow wealthy. Now, UConn is breaking ranks, giving athletes a legitimate seat at the table they built.

David Benedict, UConn’s athletic director, doesn’t shy away from the stakes. He calls the move a “foundational reinvention,” but it’s more than that—it’s a challenge to the status quo. While other programs are scrambling to understand the implications of the NCAA’s antitrust settlement, UConn is choosing to get ahead of it. They’re not hedging their bets; they’re going all in.

This isn’t about NIL money, where athletes hustle brand deals on Instagram. This is direct compensation from the school itself, tied to institutional revenue and driven by the product on the field. And UConn’s product, particularly in men’s and women’s basketball, has become one of the most bankable brands in college athletics. With a recent $20 million naming rights deal for the downtown Hartford arena locked in, the university is actively monetizing every piece of its athletic identity.

Of course, this shift doesn’t come without controversy. Critics argue that this model prioritizes the sports that sell—primarily football and basketball—while leaving non-revenue sports behind. Wrestling, gymnastics, swimming—these programs already struggle for funding and attention. Under a pay-for-play structure, some fear they may disappear altogether. There’s a real concern that as schools chase profitability, the principle of athletic diversity could be sacrificed in the process.

Benedict insists UConn will remain committed to its full athletic offering, but the reality is clear. The revenue will go where the market dictates. That may be uncomfortable for traditionalists, but it’s the new logic of a post-amateurism system.

What’s striking about UConn’s approach is how deliberately it mirrors the professional sports model. The school is building digital infrastructure to track player impact, sponsorship value, and engagement data, making it easier to justify who gets paid—and how much. They’re creating a pipeline that rewards not just talent, but contribution, value, and brand lift. In a sense, student-athletes are now employees in everything but name.

Across the country, athletic departments are watching closely. Some are optimistic, seeing UConn as a model for how to adapt. Others are nervous, knowing that most schools don’t have UConn’s championship pedigree or revenue base. For the institutions already on the financial brink, the shift toward player compensation could trigger collapse or consolidation. For powerhouse programs, it’s a chance to solidify dominance—and attract top talent with guaranteed paydays.

Whether this marks the beginning of a golden age or a slow unraveling of college athletics as we know it, one thing is certain: the amateur era is dead. UConn isn’t pretending otherwise. They’re not asking for permission. They’re building the future—and forcing everyone else to catch up.

This moment isn’t just about fairness or finance. It’s about reckoning with the truth. For years, college sports profited off the unpaid labor of its stars while draping itself in academic virtue. That model no longer holds. UConn’s decision to pay its athletes is both a business move and a moral pivot. It says, out loud, what the rest of the industry has whispered for decades.

The players have always been the product. Now, at least at one university, they’re finally getting paid like it.

GLASSBORO, NJ – Rowan Athletics invites all alumni student-athletes to its first-ever “Rowan Day at the Races” on Sunday, August 3 at Monmouth Park Racetrack from noon to 5 p.m. Reconnect with former teammates and enjoy a day surrounded by fellow Profs, while taking in the excitement of horse racing. Registration deadline is Thursday, July 17.

REGISTER HERE

 

There are two packages available:

BROWN: $40 for alumni and $60 for a non-alumni guest; Includes buffet, cash bar and giveaways

 

GOLD: $500 for 2 tickets to Exclusive Club Suite; Features buffet, top-shelf open bar and VIP gift

Monmouth Park Racetrack (175 Oceanport Ave., Oceanport, NJ 07775)

GO PROFS! 

EUGENE Ore. (KPTV) – Two new world records were set at the 50th edition of the Prefontaine Classic at historic Hayward Field on Saturday.

Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipyegon broke her own world record in the 1500 meters.

The 31-year-old ran the event in three minutes and 48 seconds, topping her world-best mark set in 2023.

The native Kenyan recently teamed with Nike in an attempt to become the first woman to record a sub-four-minute mile.

SEE ALSO:

While Kipyegon failed to eclipse the elusive mark in Paris last month, she did break her own previous world record in the attempt, clocking in at four minutes and six seconds.

Kipyegon has won Olympic gold in the women’s 1500 in three consecutive games, dating back to 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

In addition, fellow Kenyan Beatrice Chebet set a new mark in the 5000 meters, a record previously held by Kipyegon, becoming the first woman to eclipse the 14-minute mark in the event.

Chebet, 25, earned Olympic gold in the women’s 5000 at the 2024 games in Paris.

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