The 2023 season of track and field was buzzing with excitement. Numerous records were both established and shattered, and American sensations like Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, etc. added world titles to their walls of fame. Then the season ended on a staunch note with the big Diamond League finals in Oregon, which were organized outside of Europe for the first time in the league’s history. However, Lyles and Richardson failed to replicate their world championship performances at the Diamond League finals, aka Prefontaine Classic 2023, and had to face a defeat in the 100-meter meet.

Apart from this setback for the world champions, a new post shared by a former Olympic champion is putting a big question mark on the decreasing popularity of the league. This report has ignited a debate about whether the Diamond League has lost its charm in recent years.

A concerning report for the track and field world

On Saturday, American track and field legend Michael Johnson took to Twitter and shared a post that talks about the statistics of declining viewership of the Prefontaine Classic. He wrote, “Fair to expect the DL final should draw significantly more viewers over both days. Was a great meet so what’s the problem -No interest after Worlds—lack of promotion? -Something else?”

As per the statistics shown in the report, the Diamond League finals averaged 0.47, and the viewership was 744,000 on the first day of the finals, while the second day had an average of 0.49 and a viewership of 765,000.

Despite being the finals, the viewership and average were down as compared to last year’s Prefontaine Classic, where the viewership crossed the 977,000 mark with an average of 0.6. The report also suggested that two years ago, when the event took place just weeks after the Olympic Games, NBC’s coverage managed to surpass the one million view mark. However, there was an additional twist in this decline in streaming numbers as fans voiced their opinions, to which Johnson replied in his own way.

Further updates on the report

According to some enthusiasts, streaming numbers dropped due to the fact that the event was organized in Eugene. To which the former world champion replied that he was shocked by the fact that people were blaming Eugene for the low viewership. He also questioned whether people were using this issue as a means to express their exhaustion or weariness with Eugene.

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There were also questions about the event being organized at the same time as college football and the National Football League. To which Johnson replied that it might be a case for a casual fan, but die-hard fans of track would have easily chosen the sport over any other choices. He also added, as per the data, that the die-hard fans also opted out to watch the league finals.

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