Add another chapter to Hayward Field’s storied history: the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials.
The USA Track & Field site selection committee chose Eugene over 2000 and 2004 host Sacramento late Friday night. The trials take place from June 27 through July 6, 2008 and determine which United States track and field athletes will compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
This will be Hayward’s fourth time hosting the trials, the last being in 1980.
“We are ecstatic yet humbled by this tremendous opportunity,” Oregon Track Club President Greg Erwin, a former University distance runner, said in a news release.
The Oregon Track Club submitted the bid for the trials with the help of Northwest Event Management and the University Athletics Department.
USA Track & Field estimates the event will bring more than 1,000 athletes, 500 coaches, 1,000 media representatives and $20 million to the Eugene area.
“It’s certainly an effort – needless to say – that’s going to be more widespread than the University,” Assistant Athletics Director for Media Services Dave Williford said. “I can’t recall an event that’s been staged in the area that will have a greater impact on the state than this.”
Eugene’s bid included promises for expanding seating capacity at Hayward. Williford estimated that Hayward can currently seat about 10,000 and said efforts to temporarily expand seating could boost that number to about 17,000. The media box will also be expanded. A new practice track is under construction, and a new entrance to Hayward Field opened in May.
Finding sleeping space for the influx of people the trials will bring could be a big task, a task in which Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of University Housing Mike Eyster said the housing department is happy to partake.
“Whenever a big event like this comes to town the only way the town can host it is if the University agrees to provide X number of rooms,” Eyster said.
University Housing committed 1,600 beds for the trials, University Housing Director of Food Services Tom Driscoll said. No specification was made about which residence halls will be used, but Driscoll said it’s likely the new Living Learning Center will be one of them.
“Given the location right across the street (from Hayward), it would make the most sense,” Driscoll said. “It’s hard to know until we get closer.”
The cost of competing in the bid process and hosting the event “could be eye-popping,” Williford said, but the amount of money the event will generate for the community will be at least three times that sum.
The cost was estimated at about $5 million to $6 million in an Oct. 15 Oregonian article.
Eugene has long been hailed as Track Town, USA, and Williford said the efforts to secure the 2008 trials are part of a larger effort to renew that status.
It’s been a year of change for the University track and field program, with Martin Smith resigning as head coach in March and three-time New York Marathon winner and University graduate Alberto Salazar coming in as University student and running phenom Galen Rupp’s personal coach.
Vin Lananna took over head coaching duties this summer, and Williford said he’s been making huge strides to improve the track and field program and to bring it back into the national spotlight. USA Track & Field cited in a press release that one reason for selecting Hayward Field was Eugene’s commitment to the sport.
“I think that’s a large credit to Vin Lananna,” Williford said. “It was a hire that paid immediate dividends.”
The Oregon Track Club, Northwest Event Management and the Athletics Department will be hosting a press conference soon to keep the community informed, Williford said.
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