Los Angeles, Houston or Cincinnati?

By Scott Bush

USATF announces the winning bid for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials this week. The 2012 bid went to Houston, who once again is in the running to host, this time going head-to-head with Los Angeles and Cincinnati. With each city submitting their bid, USATF has a tough choice to make. Here is a breakdown of the three cities.

Los Angeles

The big three marathons in the United States are New York, Boston and Chicago. If you were to name a fourth U.S. marathon major, the LA Marathon would have to be considered. Over the past few years, LA has become one of the premier marathons in the United States, with stronger elite fields the past few years, growing participant numbers and increased media exposure nationally and locally. It helps having a billionaire owner in Frank McCourt, who is invested in Los Angeles.

There’s chatter Los Angeles will bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and hosting the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials is a giant step forward for the city. The Olympic legacy in Los Angeles is something no other bid city can match, as the Southern California city was Olympic host in both 1932 and 1984. Good weather (to be hosted in early March), a spectator friendly course and a powerful city with big money and big media makes Los Angeles the favorite.

Strengths: Major media market (second only to NYC), Olympic legacy, deep pockets, good weather, strong digital presence.

Weaknesses: Timing of event (quick turnaround to Boston and London), many professional sports teams (oversaturated sports market).

Houston

By all accounts, Houston did an amazing job hosting the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Athletes, spectators and media all had incredibly positive things to say. The course was spectator friendly, the host committee did a wonderful job supporting athletes and the Houston Marathon and Half-Marathon have grown into one of the better distance running events not only in the United States, but the world.

What could Houston improve on? For starters, more media exposure would help. The sport of professional marathoning needs as much media attention as it can get. A national telecast would be a big promise and an increased digital presence would increase their chances of winning the bid. Houston is a great place to host a marathon in mid-January and lines up nicely with allowing marathoners the option to run a spring marathon.

Strengths: History of hosting (2012), strong organizational support, strong support of U.S. distance running, major media market, timing of event (January), good weather.

Weaknesses: History of hosting (rotation of host sites is common practice).

Cincinnati

The true wild card in the field is Cincinnati. The Flying Pig Marathon is one of the better marathons in the United States, but gets overlooked by bigger money events. The event, and their staff, has the full support of the city and a boatload of successful race hosting behind them. While Cincinnati is a much smaller media market than both Los Angeles and Houston, it’s closer to the east coast media empires and is less expensive from a travel/lodging standpoint compared to LA.

There are heavy expectations around the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and some may question going to a smaller market like Cincinnati will burry the event. That’s the real debate and something Cincinnati ultimately had to argue. It does help that P&G is the heart and soul of the business community and could support the event with some major sponsorship dollars.

Strengths: Smaller market (more focus on event), past marathon success, full support of city, strong running community.

Weaknesses: Medium media market (less exposure potentially), late date (May).