Athletics must become “a lot more entertaining” and follow the lead set by basketball and winter sports to attract younger fans, feels Sebastian Coe. The world athletics chief, speaking in Doha 24 hours ahead of the opening Diamond League meeting of the season, said his sport needed to adapt and use new formats and engage with its audience more on social media.
“We have to make our sport a lot more entertaining and a lot more innovative for younger people, that means the speed with which they watch events,” Coe said. “Our activity is athletics but our business is entertainment.”
He cited the example of winter sports, which have brought in several new competitions in recent years, including 10 new events at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. These included the luge relay, women’s ski jumping and snowboard parallel slalom. Coe also pointed to the NBA, which has attracted hundreds of millions of fans on social media.
The IAAF president also reaffirmed recent claims that changes could be made to speed up the format of the Olympics and World Championships. He also said athletics should consider extending its season, which currently runs from May to September.
“We are never going to die, we are a strong sport, but I think we can be much better. I don’t think we have kept up with other sports in the way we access younger people,” said Coe.
The Diamond League has achieved a lot since it was created in March 2009. It is athletics’ most lucrative circuit with prize money totalling over 8 million dollars. It is also broadcast annually to over 120 countries. It’s a perfect vehicle to showcase how the sport can and must continue to evolve to attract new and wider audiences. “Athletics, which was born in antiquity, has prospered over thousands of years simply because of its ability to evolve,” Coe said. “We need to evolve too and make the sport more exciting and entertaining.”