April 16--In a decision both surprising and unexpected, Eugene, Ore., was named host of the 2021 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
So the place known as "TrackTown USA" will be the first U.S. city to host the biennial meet.
The international track federation (IAAF) announced the move at its council meeting Thursday in Beijing, site of the 2015 outdoor worlds.
It came without the usual bidding process and only five months after the 27-member IAAF council had rejected Eugene 15-12 in favor of Doha, Qatar in the vote for the 2019 outdoor world meet.
The decision was not without precedent. The IAAF gave the 2007 worlds to Osaka, Japan, without a bidding process.
Following Eugene's defeat last November, its backers mounted a deliberately sub rosa, behind-the-scenes effort to convince the IAAF the city should be the 2021 host.
"I did it completely on a hunch," Vin Lananna, who led the Eugene effort, said via telephone from Beijing. "In talking with various IAAF Council members after the vote (for 2019), I learned that enough were disappointed the vote did not go our way. So I thought, 'What the heck,' let's try for this.'"
Lananna began by meeting with IAAF President Lamine Diack of Senegal at the federation's Monaco headquarters in February and was immediately convinced a pre-emptive strike for 2021 could work.
"I think they were surprised we came back," Lananna said.
Eugene backers decided to keep the attempt quiet to avoid "a false start," Lananna said. It coordinated the effort with top executives of the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Track Field and NBC, but only Lananna and consultant Robert Fasulo went to Beijing to make Eugene's case at the IAAF meeting.
"I didn't have the feeling we would get it until three days ago," Lananna said.
Lananna said all the particulars of the Eugene plan were the same as those it had presented before for 2019. One is NBC's commitment to show what he called "a great deal" of the meet live in the United States.
The operating budget for the meet will be between $60 million and $80 million, excluding infrastructure work that already is underway. Revenues will include support from local and state government, private donations (hello, Nike), sponsorships and ticket sales.
All the preparations for the nine-day meet in August, 2021, including finances, should be easier since Eugene will have 6 1/2 years to get ready instead of less than five had its 2019 bid succeeded.
"In granting the championships to Eugene the IAAF Council have made a clear choice on a strategic decision that enables us to take advantage of a unique opportunity that may never arise again, whereby public authorities, the private sector, the national Olympic Committee, NBC and a particularly enthusiastic public are joining forces," Diack, the IAAF's outgoing president, said in a statement.
Lananna confirmed the vote was 23 for, one against and one abstention, as first reported in a tweet by Chris Clarey of the New York Times. Two council members were absent.
Svein Arne Hansen, president of the European track and field association, said he was "very surprised by the complete lack of process" in the IAAF decision.
Quoted on the European Athletics web site, Hansen also noted the disappointment that Gothenburg, Sweden felt in not having an opportunity chance to be considered for 2021.
"The IAAF knew that Gothenburg was a serious candidate for the 2021 World Championships," Hansen said. "Swedish Athletics and the city had put in a lot of effort over the years to prepare the bidding application but they have not even been given the chance to bid for the event."
Eugene, home of the University of Oregon and less than two hours from Nike headquarters, is the one U.S. city where people still care passionately about the sport, and the university's Hayward Field is one of track and field's iconic venues. It will be expanded to 30,000 capacity for the world meet, which draws some 2,000 athletes from more than 200 countries.
The city of 160,000 was host to the 2014 World Junior Track and Field Championships, which had 1,600 athletes from 167 countries.
The 2016 World Indoor Track and Field Championships, a substantially smaller event, will take place next March 18-20 in Portland, Ore. Indianapolis had been host to that meet in 1987.
