Meet You at the 2016 World Indoor

Published by the Portland Tribune on December 4, 2013

For three days in March 2016, Portland will be the focal point of the track and field universe.

Portland? Not Eugene?

For sure, the Track Capital of the U.S., offered the biggest assist to the City of Roses landing the 2016 World Indoor Championships.

Now it will be up to the sports fans and business entities of Portland, as well as the rest of the region, to show it deserves a major international track and field event in an Olympic year.

"It's one thing to say it's a great idea conceptually," says Vin Lananna, the former University of Oregon coach now president of Eugene's TrackTown USA, which will serve as the local organizing committee for the '16 World Indoors. "It's another to write a check.

"It will be important we have a buy-in -- that we sell out the Oregon Convention Center -- and that the private sector supports this. If we really want to demonstrate that this region embraces the sport of track and field, and essentially owns it (in the U.S.) -- and I have full confidence that we will -- we need to get behind this."

The '16 World Indoors will be staged on a pre-constructed wood 200-meter track inside the exhibit halls of the convention enter, with bleachers seating a capacity crowd of between 6,400 and 8,400. Lananna guesses 700 athletes from the 212 member countries, another 700-800 coaches and track and field officials and a strong contingent of international media will invade Portland for the week.

"It's going to be a fabulous event," he promises.

Portland beat out Birmingham, England, for the right to become the first U.S. city to host the World Indoors since Indianapolis in 1987. Lananna was the point person in the delegation that presented the bid to the International Association of Athletics Federations in Monaco last month.