by Larry EderWell, the fiasco that surrounded the bidding of 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials continues. I have written a few pieces about the silliness and sadness that surrounds the rebidding of the 2020 Trials on May 22 and May 25. And recently, on June 11, 2018, Ken Stone, the man who has taken it upon himself to chronicle that absolute cluster that was, and is, the Olympic Trials, Ken wrote a piece titles USATF Denies Promising Mt.SAC the 2021 World Track & Field Trials. It is a juicy piece of journalism, I must say. A wonderful read. You just can not make this stuff up, as someone smarter than I said years ago.
Doug Todd having some fun with mortars, prior to a cross country race photo courtesy of MT.SAC
As a public service, I will do an abridged version of the crisis surrounding the USATF rebidding of the Trials. It seems that, even with all of the documents flying around, there seems to be a true lack of communication. I sure do not want to take anyone away from Fox, or CNN or MSNBC and the daily saga of the current Nightmare Years, but I do believe I may humbly shed some light on the rebidding of the 2020 Trials. USATF seems to think that they are protecting the sport from the chance that Mt.SAC would not complete the renovation, rebuilding or whatever one wants to call it! Mt.SAC seems to be incredulous over their treatment from USATF.
I have read all of Ken Stone’s pieces. Quite alot of research, I must say. I find it curious that Mr. Stone never seems to have spoken to Mr. Todd, a most affable human being, and someone who, on most occassions, seems be able to, how shall I say, “cut to the chase.”
The current board of USATF tends to do what they see fit, which is just what the USOC wants them to do. There was some controversy over the 2016 Marathon Trials decisions, but the 2020 Trials rebidding shows at least one thing: USATF does not seem to communicate well. That there is so much difference between what Mt.SAC has noted and USATF has noted that anyone insane enough to bid for an Olympic Trials should be having nightmares.
In the documents surrounding this process, it is noted that USATF told Mt.SAC that they was significant pressure from the sponsors, which would include Nike, NBC. Lots of questions still in this quagmire.
The new site was to be announced on June 8, it is now June 15, and there seems to be some slight delay. Stay tuned for more updates.
We do understand that there were two to three sites that were involved in the rebidding process. Mt.SAC, from the reading of the documents Mr. Stone found, or was given, shows that there might have been some confusion in the process.
