The struggle to represent athletics continues. As a result of the new viewership policy, the US Championships track and field event will now not be aired on air this year. The 40-day event is now broadcast only on CNC and USATF with a subscription. This step has created chaos in the industry. Thousands of Fans and track and field athletes have come together to fight this policy. Michael Johnson, a legendary sprinter, has also expressed his opinions against this step through social media.

However, this opposition started on June 1 after Sha’carri Richardson posted a story accusing the sports media of exploitation. Since then, Sha’carri Richardson has used her Instagram, which has 2.3 Million followers, to reach as many athletes as possible to join her meetings against the cause. Richardson plans to form an organization for track and field.

Sha’Carri Richardson decides to form an organization

Three days ago, Sha’carri Richardson posted a video asking the Track and field athletes to come together in Eugene for a meeting to discuss the new news policy. The motive of the meeting was to give athletes a voice in this matter, as Richardson plans to create an organization in the future to speak up against the injustice happening to the track and field community.

Today, Richardson posted a new update video on Instagram. In the new video captioned “Thank you so much for connecting,” Sha’Carri updated the fans on the previous survey’s success. Around 160 athletes joined the meeting to discuss the agenda topics, including the news changes in USATF. Now the athlete is requesting as many athletes as possible to join the new meet held on Wednesday, July 5, so their protest against this motive will be taken seriously. To arrange the meeting, Sha’carri has asked the athletes to fill out a survey form linked in the video.

Later, the athlete also accused NBC of not airing the national championship because they wanted to bring more traffic to USATF.tv. As she stated in the video, “USATF, they are not airing nationals on television, and why? Because they want us to bring traffic into USTAF.tv.”

However, Richardson is not the only famous athlete to defy the Sports media. Michael Johnson, a four-time Olympic sprinter, has also shown his support for the track and field community through social media.

Michael Johnson joins the fight

Since his retirement from the track, Johnson has worked as a business performance speaker and usually shares his opinion on athletes through Twitter. After the announcement of the new policy, Michael used the platform to express his frustration against the big corporations. According to the athlete, NBC is just a big corporation that cares about events such as the Olympics with high rates, while US track and field gets little attention. After his tweets, many people became aware of the situation and started to join this initiative against media representation.

Also Read: “Athletes Are Disappointed”: As Sha’Carri Richardson Stands Up Against Exploitation, US Legend Joins in Supporting Thousands Affected

This issue is finally being taken seriously. Hopefully, Richardson’s organization will succeed in its goal, as NBC will reverse its new policy. And the US championship will also provide visibility for track and field athletes this year.

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