UK Athletics is F*cked

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Enjoyed putting this one together! If you prefer content like this in written form please subscibe to the newsletter: thelongplay.beehiiv.com

[@admiralbillom7559]

thanks, very informative. a pity you have to use our lord's name as an expletive.

[@stanfordclarke8880]

I was about to say the same thing? It's really unnecessary, and makes no sense?

[@AmberFerrariGirl]

Towards the end of Paris 24 Olympics there was a really interesting comment that I found quite shocking... the UK is one of only FOUR countries out of all the modern Olympic and Paralympic member countries (inc. Russia and tiny nations) that DON'T award our medal winners with prizes (cash, houses, land, bonds, other valuable items) when they return home... 1 of only 4 in the entire world... and think of the 3rd world and war-torn countries who still send athletes to the games, yet they support their athletes better than we do. And yet our football teams can afford to pay their players millions, so can the 6 out of 10 current Formula 1 teams that are based in the UK. There's some lessons needing to be learned.

[@dronesclubhighjinks]

That is insane! But don't the gold medalists get awarded a knighthood? Like Andy Murray and Max Whitlock. That probably doesn't come with cash prizes either though. Not that Andy Murray would need it.

[@imwelshjesus]

Many UK athletes are full time professionals earning a salary from the UK lottery etc. Other countries athletes are not. But, you are missing the point ALL SPORT is entertainment that must make a profit out of TV rights and commercials etc. Athletics does not. I suspect numerous sports will eventually decline to irrelevancy, including tennis and rugby and why franchise cricket and rugby 7s have been introduced, whilst sporting god soccer and golf events are being threatened by middle-eastern money. Time will tell.

[@Rleatfitness]

That’s because Britain provides lottery funding where most athletes (not all) get a yearly salary in the run up to an Olympic Games

[@majesticpictures5715]

STOP USING THE TERM "THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES" IT S DEMEANING AND INNACURATE. The term came from the Non-Aligned Movement. Those who were not aligned with the West "1st World" and the Eastern Bloc "2nd World".

[@truthtorpedo4068]

Modern day slavery. The more talented of you sprinters are of Jamaican descent, but they aren't fast enough to make the Jamaican team.

[@godwindracing6056]

You forgot that the Commonwealth Games is dying too - 2 years to go and no host

[@wss33]

Does anybody really need the commonwealth games?

[@ajs41]

@@wss33 Yes, I enjoy watching it on TV.

[@ajs41]

Maybe they should just hold it in London each time.

[@trevorwoodley3897]

No one needs the Stockholm Syndrome Sufferers Sport meet. Commonwealth my ass.

[@sankkham]

India needs. Cuz it's the only tournament where india comes in top 3-4 countries at medal tally 😂​@@wss33

[@pinklemonade6597]

I didn’t realise how little I knew about how the athletics system in the UK was run until now! Very informative vid thank you

[@SammiePaters-Lee]

Matthew Johnson coming over from Australia as a 'career move' will also be the de ath of him lol

[@mwezimwezi9618]

The commercial model is not sustainable because for the most part athletics is a minor sport outside of the Olympic cycle.

[@FitzElda]

Sadly this is the crux of the issue.

[@mattryan7124]

@@FitzEldathis is basically the case for every US NGB that isn’t already around a major televised sport.

[@terminateshere]

Odd thing is - it's one of the only Olympic sports to get any real coverage outside the olympics. Sports like rowing, track cycling and swimming get only very occasional attention mid-Olympiad, even if they are GB medal prospects in making. Wonder how they're doing?

[@RatluBoogerbag]

Athletics is only a minor sport if you are completely ignorant to it. In the same sense, I could say that football is a minor sport because I take no notice of it. Athletics has thousands of hours of coverage every year including the Diamond League, all levels of the Continental Tour, World and European championships every two years and the UK champs every year. Furthermore, your Olympic cycle term is meaningless given that we are constantly in an Olympic cycle; we are currently in the cycle of the 34th Olympiad.

[@mwezimwezi9618]

Err, objectively speaking, which my comment was (I.e. not my personal view), athletics is a minor sport outside of the Olympics. Even with taking the Diamond League, World Championships into account (thousands of hours…🤔?). It is not possible to objectively compare athletics with football. Subjectively, one can make all sorts of comparisons of course, however contrived they may be. I agree that my use of the term Olympic cycle does need clarification because it is not clear what I was referring to. Nevertheless, were athletics a major sport UK Athletics would be more sustainable as a commercial model. Regards

[@kuramobay2445]

Excellent report. I didnt know UK Athletics is a private company and that its mandate is so broad. That's crazy. I thought UK Athletics was setup to distribute lottery money to athletes, etc. Athletics as a whole should be under the government with corporate sponsorships, subsidies, etc.

[@AntonioMinichiello-n6m]

It's UK Sport that is set up to distribute Public funds that come from the Lottery. UK Athletics is a National Governing Body that is awarded Lottery funding from UK Sport.

[@arnoldd7073]

Why should it be a government organisation? Must all sports be ren by government bodies? Why is athletics different?

[@kuramobay2445]

@@arnoldd7073 Sport is something everyone should do in one form or another. For starters, if most people did a sport it would reduce the national health bill tremendously and guess who's taxes pay for that? Exactly. So, it's a national health issue that affects everyone which in my view makes it a matter for a government minister to lead.

[@simonrook5743]

Many organisations are also private companies, they need to be to manage VAT, tax affairs etc. all the political parties are also listed companies.

[@bigchristie]

​@arnoldd7073 all part of the money game.

[@wilflava]

Brilliant video, the financial situation really is quite embarrassing with only the very tip top athletes getting funding. Jacob Fincham-Dukes just came 5th at the Olympics and has been jumping in and around 8m for years now. After his 5th place on Tuesday 6th August, he went back to his full time job that Friday. If he got proper funding we could have a Long Jump medallist and potentially Rutherford's successor

[@KenanJHS]

It really is unbelievable

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Sad really. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@ofs82]

It didn't help that BBC's appalling coverage of that day (showing nothing but the 1500m and the 200m live, and ignoring all events to show buildup packages, repeats of Hodgkinson's race the previous day and medal ceremony and showing the same videos of Kerr talking smack and of Keely as a child over and over then discussing it while you could see races going on in the background, including the 400m semis that Hudson-Smith was running and the LJ final, then only showing them as a video on Twitter/X, meant that unless they watched past the end of the athletics program to the catch-up section at around 9:30, nobody who doesn't already follow athletics closely would even have known Jacob Fincham-Dukes existed. Is it any wonder the athletes have to continue to work full time, and can't get funding to support their sporting endeavours or sponsorship deals with coverage like that?

[@SJ-cc2il]

@@ofs82 I was on holiday during much of the athletics and it was WONDERFUL to watch the german coverage - NO STUDIO TIME except when they change to a different sport, and actually showing field event attempts. BBC is so dumbed-down it feels like a Gaby Logan chat show focussing on the retired athletes sitting on the sofa.

[@Northbriton]

@@ofs82 yeh well the BBC didn't get full broadcasting rights to the Olympics so they actually couldn't show more. thats another issue in itself the BBC HAS to get the Olympic coverage in order to help the athletes but it cant compete with subscription based services

[@fperacoli]

Here is a theme for a future video. How much money is necessary to mantain a top GB Olympic athlete? I mean, to pay for training, travel, staff, competitions, salary and so on... It wil be nice to compare Athletes from diferent sports: athletics, swimming, cycling.

[@markwood7045]

great suggestion!!

[@cp4512]

There is loads of money swimming around in athletics from TV rights, sponsorship, lottery funding, etc. If UK Athletics is spending beyond its means then that’s just mismanagement, salaries are too high, or someone is getting backhanders……

[@lukebignell7846]

Mainly Corruption

[@beauzest5525]

Solid piece of sports journalism. Concise and informative. I look forward to watching more.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Plenty more coming, glad you enjoy

[@KenanJHS]

Everything about this video was so clean, from the thumbnail to the editing to the way you structured the video was perfect. You just gained a sub

[@pensacola2015]

00:37 Name doesn't match De Vos's pic

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Well spotted thank you both for the comments🙏🏾

[@LawtJay]

Really really good! I am Nigerian and live in the uk now and being a lifelong athletics fan, I wanted to know the Uk scene and this has been really insighting! Congrats to Hughes and the team for the 4X100 bronze, he was flying on the anchor!

[@tobolee6385]

Not another one ..ffs why do u come to uk ..

[@Slider5320]

Problems started long before 2007 mate. Things were not great under Neils De vos. The problems started with UK Sport in 1997, with a medal centred approach and their control over the funding meant they became the puppet masters to UKA. Athletics cannot govern itself anymore. Tony Minichello had to fight like hell against UKA who were unintentionally trying to throw a spanner in the work for Jess. Neils de vos even said they should just give all the money for UKA to cycling, as that’s where the medals are. Ignoring that cycling only has 70 countries at the Olympics compared to 180 in athletics. The national coaching structure was dismantled in 1997, and wha happened since is UKA have been like an apple rotting from the core outwards. So what success happened under Neils was really just coaches who developed in the 80’s and 90’s carrying onwards. The business side that you refer to started with Andy Norman in the 70’s who created the international grand prix. There would be 3 international GP’s, what today would be diamond leagues. Beginning, middle and end of season. Jo Coates didn’t resign over a safe guarding issue from before she was CEO, she resigned because she was incompetent. She also lost one of the diamond league events.

[@SBanderaB]

I can remember the corruption in the 90s because anyone competing at national level could see it and feel it clearly.

[@EightFrancs]

Genuine question here, not trolling. Is Tony Minichello really guilty of what he was convicted for?

[@SammiePaters-Lee]

Matthew Johnson coming over from Australia as a 'career move' will also be the de ath of him lol

[@SammiePaters-Lee]

Don't blame others for the UK failing to down fall

[@onjadar]

Really Great video sharing some very insightful info into UK athletics. You made a very accurate point about the bbc's use of the bbc iplayer. In our house, we got fed up (literally) by the bbc coverage at this olympics, we often just went to eurosport and discovery plus to watch the events. BBC's coverage on bbc 1 or 2 was mostly people in the studio speaking and recycling footage whereas we were wanting to see the actual raw footage of the events as they were happening. I understand some sports like swimming and cycling took centre stage for bbc 1 and 2, but man, they definitely did not do well enough to promote athletics to the UK viewers. Not sure whether it was a little intentional. Oh yeah, new sub as well. Great vid.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

There was a particular night where I was watching a Live feed on Eurosport at say 7pm. I then switched to the BBC to watch some sprint races (as I find MJ very insightful) where they then showed what I had watched on Eurosport. I was thinking “… I saw this over an hour ago” ha. The coverage was frustrating at times. Glad you enjoyed the video, welcome to the community 🙏🏾

[@onjadar]

@@TheLongPlayUK I experienced the same exact thing. By athletics night 3 or 4 I stopped crossing over for the MJ/Jess/Denise/Gabby analysis (which I too quite enjoy) because I knew bbc wasn't live with their feed. I don't know when they would've replayed it but I was back to eurosport/discovery plus by the time they probably did.

[@onlineo2263]

BBC does not have the rights to the Olympics and can only broadcast a small proportion of it... But even so I found their coverage awful. Too much chat, too much repeats and not enough live events. Also you would be watching a hockey match or something and it would get to half time and then they just didn't show the rest of the match. Not on either channel or iplayer, or even update you on the score or outcome! Crazy

[@conordempsey8854]

The BBC athletics coverage was amazing in Paris, no idea what you guys are on about.

[@thispersonrighthere9024]

greed ruins everything. as a teen in the 90's, the local channels all broadcasted the live events of the olympics. while one channel would broadcast one live event, another would broadcast a different live event. this way, everybody got to see whichever sport they were seeking, while the sport was taking place. but then the media congolomerates got GREEDY and decided to compete for the rights to olympic coverage, and did such a piss poor job of presenting the olympics, i decided to just not watch this year. greed is slowly destroying the entire world.

[@ezeuzuka3344]

Commenting for the algorithm. you deserve it man. Love the videos

[@BarronBarca]

The fact that athletes have to go and sell provocative pics and vids on Onlyfans just shows how screwed 95% of athletes are.

[@dillilyeverage315]

Super informative and interesting - thank you. I noticed that all the GB athletes made a point of thanking the National Lottery during their post performance interviews which got me wondering about how the funding works.

[@georgeonsports]

I learnt something today! Also I don't remember the last time I left a comment on a KZbin video! Great report!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I feel honored this video brought you back. Glad you enjoy, look forward to future comments 😅

[@lostinfailure]

A similar situation is occurring with team GB's climbing team as well. A lot of the team is unable to travel to events and not just athletes, supporting coaches as well; very few are fortunate like Toby Roberts who won the Gold in Paris who had been racking up a lot of sponsorship deals on merit. However, for people who are less fortunate and are only starting out on their competitive career I can imagine the amount of sacrifices that has to be made on top of the cost of living crisis affecting a lot of people. Although, with the win in Paris I am hopeful that the potential for British climbers is now more known than ever and that the sport can continue to grow and I do hope that all of team GB regardless of age category and disabilities are able to be given support so that they can have the chance to shine.

[@andrew30m]

Climbers like a lot of other minority sports would rather go out and do it, rather than travel or pay to watch it,

[@maximusmarkovich3319]

Keep up the good work!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Appreciate you, I certainly will do 🙏🏾

[@rohitnath5569]

Superb video mate. Perhaps it's worth experimenting with different colours for your text boxes. I admit I don't have any actual issue with it being an all-white background, but I paused and thought that perhaps a colour like dark blue would be better than a white background. Just a thought. It could possibly be more visually appealing to the average viewer. Keep up the good work. The numbers will keep growing!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Excellent feedback thank you for taking the time to comment, I’m glad you enjoy 🙏🏾

[@TirnanHealy]

He's probably looking to keep a consistent theme with that mixture of colours (black, white & red, like KZbin). If you look at his channel page it's quite consistent with his banner & display pic.

[@Battismore-Blue]

Proof that nobody is interested in Athletics is the fact BBC cover it , if people wanted to want it Sky would have it . The Hundred is a perfect example of this , more and more games were on BBC because people aren`t interested

[@Av4nQuisH]

i dont rlly care bout athetics in the uk but ur editing made me watch the whole vid, was quiet ineteresting and ur a great speaker

[@justwhatever23]

Great video, had no idea the organisation was in such difficulty

[@oofskzy]

Bro your videos are so clean and sophisticated. Well done. Don't quit and you'll be a force on YT.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Soon come hopefully! Thank you for engaging

[@samhillsmithify]

Wow. From someone that watches and consumes a lot of report videos this is the best I have seen in a while

[@alexander1989x]

Corporate greed and corruption destroying fun since forever.

[@chipsandgravy4387]

Great video!! We really need more people to speak about this so well done 👏

[@champion4000]

Great insightful video. Well done!

[@mauricerevelle8451]

Really good report. A couple of us were having a conversation during the Olympics on how the coverage had been really poor and we never got to see a lot of the track n field especially. I also know that some of the coverage had been sold to Disney network .

[@jackdawson4772]

Great video. Really opened my eyes to a lot of issues I had no idea about!

[@YomsterFUT13]

Insanely good and detailed video sir 🫡🤝🏾

[@brianfarrelly7151]

A well researched and presented video. Excellent - thanks.

[@mumblesmoaner8996]

Most athletes “professional” status isn’t sustainable without govt funding from the lottery without which the athletes couldn’t make a living. Sponsors aren’t coming forward because there’s no return. People generally aren’t interested. All the doping. It’s boring to watch only hyped by overpaid commentators & pundits. Let’s face it more people play bowls that do any jumping or field events. These athletes are basically funded to do a hobby. If UK athletics mission is to get people into sport is wants to take a leaf out of Park Run & forget the elite

[@mattpotter8725]

I think you need both. I think you have to fund the base adequately in order to get the talent able to come through but you do need the role models winning World Championship and Olympic medals to inspire the generation. You would hope that the elite athletes be able to get sponsorship deals of their own to be able to at least in part, and quite a large part, support themselves and the costs to keep them competitive, but we do need them. Professional sport isn't just a hobby, it's a career. You may not see it this way but it is and been for a long time, it's not like they can be a postie on the days they aren't competing!!!

[@ofs82]

But if people aren't interested... why is the London stadium selling out for the Diamond League? I get some of the points, and certainly by the end of the Olympics, after the 25th ridiculous career-best performance to win a medal by an athlete who only enters races on the US calendar and is subject only to USADA testing as a result, there's an element of fatigue and disillusionment that, given the history of the sport, rightly or wrongly, permeates the whole thing (from insane career outlier performances like Kenneth Rooks all the way up to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who has ALWAYS been an insane talent, working with Flo-Jo's coach) in a way that it wouldn't if it were only one or two athletes standing out like a sore thumb Ben Johnson-style. And then it becomes hard to watch the DL and follow those athletes because they go straight back to the US calendar and we won't see them again until Tokyo 2025. That's part of the problem, that unless the athletes are British athletes who can get the sponsorships and be prominent, the way those Müller sponsorships used to be, then there is a lack of follow-up after the Games. There's essentially a global travelling circus of the DL and the Continental Tour Gold, and then there's a separate US scene which doesn't get screened in Europe, and which appears to be more of a wild west, but a lot of elite athletes are travelling out to it, and it means that it's hard to get invested in those athletes when we never see them race live outside of major championships. To be sustainable, for events to succeed, and for UKA to grow and get sponsorship attraction and so on, there needs to be ongoing support, there's a large casual audience for the Olympics and to a lesser extent the World Championships or Commonwealth Games, but many of them just watch for those championships, and need incentivising to stick around for the DLs and the Continental Tour Gold. The CTG used to be streamable on youtube, but is now behind a paywall. The DL is red button only and does not get advertised. It makes it hard to become invested in long-term rivalries or storylines between athletes, comebacks or losses of form or confidence, injuries and so on. Essentially we see the glory (or lack thereof) but we never get to see the grift that gives us the reason to back those athletes. So if we only see the athletes once every two years, and they're relegated to also-ran status, unless we go out of our way to find out, we don't know WHY that athlete was hyped, we don't know what a reasonable expectation was, we don't know why we are expected to cheer for them... and we don't become invested enough to follow that athlete afterwards, give them a groundswell of popular support and maximise their chances of attracting sponsor interest.

[@mumblesmoaner8996]

@@ofs82 the London stadium sells out once a year not a week like premiership football stadiums. For some reason funding athletes dreams / hobbies is a good thing. I’d say provide facilities for the masses. The UK has a weight / fat issue. People don’t come to the UK coz it’s done well in the Olympics. Another vanity project.

[@SJ-cc2il]

I love the jumps??!

[@TheBenNagy]

@@ofs82the London diamond league sells out because people see it as a day out to see international athletes. UKA doesn’t invest in grass roots, which has a double negative effect - we get less and less athletes in the sport and therefore we get less international level athletes, so paying viewers don’t care about national/regional athletics, only international when it rolls around once a year. They don’t engage with UK runners otherwise. And then also we also have a generation of people who never got involved in athletics as a kid and so don’t really care about it, they’re rather watch a random football match (or anything else) than even the British champs or even international athletics events. UKA has accidentally created a generation (probably 2 now) who don’t care about athletics because they never got involved as a kid. My partner is a teacher and she says no kids care at all about athletics. Only football, because they see the money there and get involved. If schools or athletics clubs did even a little bit more of getting kids involved, there would be more interest in all levels of it, simply because kids have an idea of it from being involved, even if just for a bit.

[@Lulu-126]

Thank you! Brilliant report Jordan 👏🏾

[@alexkidd4144]

Love the content coming from this channel. Can I make a small suggestion? Maybe look into the compressor/ limiter settings. The tail end of your sentences tend to fade in volume and it's a little difficult to catch sometimes.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I am here for all feedback, thank you for this suggestion

[@SystemParanoia]

You want the expander in davinci resolve to lift the quiet parts. The compressor makes the loud spikes quieter. The limiter catches anything that might clip that the compressor couldn't handle 👍🏾👍🏾

[@bdh711]

I knew something was off with the audio but I’m not technical so I couldn’t tell 😭😭

[@thomascolville9438]

I can’t make anything out for the hands waving about. It’s too distracting when commentators do this.

[@phoenixmuaythai]

@@thomascolville9438please give constructive criticism and do an informative video on this topic and show us how it's done.

[@danielebowman]

I think you got things wrong. De Vos was a terrible leader, he inherited a good set-up. In 2012-2013 he got rid of Aviva as sponsorship claiming they'll get a family of sponsors. He failed to get any and begged Sainsburys who sponsored the Paralympics to be a sponsor, in a bad dead for UK Athletics. Basically his successor was fucked, especially as UK athletics gutted wider programs and pathways to success which meant they got less successful after London 2012. The bad management and rot started there, it just didn't yet show in the numbers. Also UK athletics were screwed over by Boris Johnson's desperate need to make the London Olympic Stadium into a football stadium for West Ham.

[@resultxgroup]

@thelongplayuk Been in the sports biz for over 30 years and have just recently discovered your videos. Have to say that your channel is brilliant, love your style and your "to the point" delivery - and not padding it out like most other channels do. Great job, mate, keep it up. You will go far

[@Damon759]

My theory after watching this video is although we Team GB finished overall 7th in the global medal haul, 14 gold medals as far as I’m concerned is not good enough. Probably the worst turn out since Athens 2004. If what I’ve heard about sexual abuse towards female athletes is true, that is pretty concerning. There has been a lot of athletes regarding track and field or in the pool taking time out of their sport to deal with their mental health. I think the overwhelming success of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics have put a grave amount of pressure on our athletes to deliver big and that means surpassing 20 golds. Unfortunately now that the rug has been taken from under us by vast management changes, I’m afraid other nations have sussed us out and taken over. You just have to look inside the velodrome which we’ve dominated for donkey’s years and seen what the Dutch have achieved. If Team GB wants to reclaim their medal haul glory in LA in 2028, drastic change needs to happen immediately starting with the track and field. A lot of the old guard are on the verge of retirement or announced their retirement and fresh talent urgently need to be found.

[@fender1000100]

Everything's ABOUT MONEY. Put up enough money the talent will come. And with it supreme success. There is a USAIN BOLT level talent walking around the streets of London. But we will never know. Because there's no incentive to even TRY.

[@Damon759]

@@fender1000100 My thought after watching both the men’s 400m and 1500m finals is that you always speed up as much as possible until you cross that finishing line. As soon as Matthew Hudson-Smith and Josh Kerr respectively saw those Americans catching up on them, they should’ve accelerated like their lives depend on it. That includes ignoring the lactic acid build up. Also if we didn’t have the National Lottery which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, our country’s mass sporting achievements of the past decade or so in the Olympics would never have existed.

[@Stephens_Rocket]

@@Damon759 Ignoring the lactic build up? You have no idea how these guys are running on their limit as efficiently as they can. Matt Hudson-Smith ran the 5th fastest 400m time in history. He just got beaten by someone running the 4th fastest time in history.

[@Damon759]

@@Stephens_Rocket Mmmm! 🤔

[@TracyGooding-xi7dp]

@@fender1000100 If you have 'podium potential', you get ~£30k per year, which can be stopped if you have an off year. So that's the world top ~10 in any sport. If you can run but also kick a football, the EFL has 1000s of players and they all earn more each year.

[@LT-bz1pk]

Really good video, Very well produced as always

[@deanrobinson2459]

Apart from the 2012 games, where there were free dedicated channels that just showed the events, the BBC coverage of athletics is dreadful. Montages on repeat, 'Gabby' Gabby Logan talking incessantly and other talking heads rambling on prosaically, all while you can see the events happening live over their shoulder. Eurosport just points cameras at track and field and lets things unfold.

[@felixbishton3955]

Great research and well structured, fascinating - subscribed

[@TheGiantKillers]

The bench mark of a good Olympics for team GB traditionally was if it won a gold medal in each of Athletics, Swimming, Cycling and Rowing. In at least half a dozen post war 20th century games, they left the track empty handed, most recently 1996, and on about four other occasions they achieved the solitary gold. They had a good games in 1980 [without Americans] and 1984 [without the eastern bloc] but really only truely excelled once, in 1964 when GB won four golds, which was amazing at the time. Team GB's 21st century performance has been actually punching above our weight, and the performance in 2024 was more in keeping with realistic expectations.

[@99somerville]

Chiming in here from the USA. I’m old enough to remember the Olympics being for amateur athletes who participated for the love of sport. There was no taxpayer support of athletes in the USA, nor was it expected. None of the athletes had plans to make money off their accomplishments, although some certainly did. Professional sports is all big money driven by TV commercial prices. Since Most Olympic sports are not on US TV support is limited.

[@sirsquid577]

ah yes, the time when you'd get punished for any form of professionalism?

[@marra4887]

Very good outline analysis, Jordan - and well delivered. I think it's a travesty that in a worldwide sport - Noah Lyles was right saying that world champions of American football is a misnomer - they don't get the coverage they deserve. I remember reading about Keely Hodgkinson' s coach, Jennie Meadows when she competed herself having to scrat and save to pay fares to events. Athletics needs more publicity and people like Usain Bolt, Noah Lyles, Keely Hodgkinson ' Ingebritsen - Josh Kerr battles' Duplantis style exhilaration, Sydney Mclaughlin superstardom; Dina Asher- Smith and many others. All that government "the 2012 London Olympics going to have a long lasting effect on athletics in Britain" false promises, not carried through! From what you say, Jordan, shame on the BBC for not supporting athletics as it should be !

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Maybe Im just a geek but I was jumping around my living room in anticipation of Kerr vs Ingebritsen (vs Hocker!!!!) last week. That race imo should have felt …bigger! The BBC don’t think they’re getting ROI on their spend it’s a sad situation.

[@mishimishi27]

Great video so informative and well presented thank you for sharing 🙌🏾

[@lennyjones5569]

great presentation skills!

[@thehousepreacher3982]

0:56 mins "the problem started to begin". ....🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@davidwilliams2687]

Excellently reported and is full of great content, because I have learned things that I was not aware of, please keep up informed, thanks for the updates.

[@TheBenNagy]

UK Athletics have strangled athletics to near death in the UK, from the grass roots up, which ironically is killing their business even further. Nobody is really interested in athletics in the uk (outside of 1 diamond league a year) because there’s no support for it. UK Athletics have LONG neglected grass roots - no getting coaches in, very little support for clubs and coaches, no support for clubs getting kids involved, no engagement with schools and the potential for getting literally a whole nation of kids into the sport. Nobody in this country cares about athletics because the governing body have let it languish and not supported it and not got anyone involved in it, from the grass roots level for many years - a whole UK generation since 1990s doesn’t care much about athletics - contrast that to the response it gets in USA/Jamaica. And then don’t forget - UK Athletics have also killed the elite / sub elite crowd - their focus on ONLY medal potential athletes is killing ambition in young athletes and the potential next stars who are 2-3 years off being internationally elite but can’t sustain an elite athletes training lifestyle with no funding and no support. So the athletes who do miraculously make it to international standard despite the lack of grass roots support end up dropping out. UKA left multiple top 30 world ranked athletes at home for the Olympics because they didn’t reach unrealistic qualifying standards, and UKA even ignored multiple invites for athletes from World Athletics, so that they didn’t need to support them and save themselves a little cash, while only supporting athletes that they’re banking on bringing them in some sponsorship cash. UK Athletics is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. This doesn’t even go into the insane standards that UKA have for athletes to get any funding at all, and meagre funding at that. This was a good video but it left out so much! You could do another whole video on UKA’s lack of support for athletes from grass roots to sub-elite, and how THAT is killing the sport. (Ironically, investing in grass roots could actually save athletics in the uk, and UK Athletics as an entity, due to actually getting people interested in athletics and competing and then the revenue streams would follow). I’m actually asking you personally, can you do some research and do another video on this? UKA has killed the sport for too long and I’m sick of it having this strangle hold on it.

[@DavidRodriguez-wp7zi]

Great informative video, thank you

[@lorrainewilson5234]

Very insightful and informative information. Never knew these awesome athletes aren't rewarded. Probably they should align themselves with other countries placing pressure on the country

[@jamiechaplin7754]

Brilliant video. Excited to see what's next from this channel.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Thank you Jamie I have a lot more coming. Glad you enjoy

[@jonesyjones7626]

Very thought provoking. Fundamentally, sports bodies should not be private companies, there is a lack of transparency in such arrangements that goes against what they are there to do.

[@sstevogb]

Great to see athletics getting some attention, thanks so much for this clarity

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I love athletics, I hope they can turn it around. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@phoenixrose1192]

It’s a good thing we win golds in other events then.

[@TirnanHealy]

Very entertaining & informative video. I believe one of the key issues with the lack of TV deal / sponsorship money, is viewership figures aren't that high. What can be done about that? I guess people like us refining content and bringing it to a wider audience is a good start.

[@TheBenNagy]

UKA has long needed to invest in Grass roots, to get more kids and people interested in the sport. No kids compete in athletics at school, and clubs don’t get much funding so don’t run engagement sessions & training for kids, so no one is interested in athletics in general. Has been like this for 30 years, so no wonder a whole generation doesn’t care about athletics. If we invest in getting kids involved in athletics, the engagement would follow. But it’s a long term plan and UKA are so concerned with saving money they won’t ever invest. They’re not fit for purpose and are killing the sport and need to be replaced. UK Sport also probably to blame - i hear a lot of their funding is linked to medals.

[@TirnanHealy]

@@TheBenNagy interesting take, do you have any other ideas for what could revive interest?

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Excellent report, mate.

[@SJ-cc2il]

Thanks Jordan for bringing these issues further into the public eye. There is so much wrong with UKA, you could make a whole series! Anyone remember the Athletics World Cup in 2018 held in London? Maybe not, as it was never repeated! UKA were rumoured to have lost £1million on it - some genius picked the weekend of the World Cup final and Wimbledon Final to host it. From my understanding this nearly broke them. From 2020 they made a lot of admin staff redundant, eventually closing their physical HQ in Birmingham to save money. It sounds like a very toxic insular culture. There's rampant favouritism in who gets coaching or team leadership roles; some coaches are "in" and others "out" if they are not Company Yes-Men. Perhaps worst of all, regarding the "cover-up", a national coach "let-go" because of "inappropriate" relationships with a GB Junior athlete. That coach has been embroiled in further similar scandals since and is banned from major events including the Olympics. UKA acts *very surprised* when asked for comments about the guy - like, you *knew* he was already accused of that kind of stuff, that's why you let him go! Shame the media never cracked that one open.

[@jahanb2002]

Ew that's disgusting about the coach. Its heartbreaking how many predators there are in youth sports :(

[@leithenry4661]

I feel like there is alot more which could have been mentioned here. The medal performance from London to now in major championships, falling squad sizes and complaints by athletes for missing the squad etc

[@telboyynwa699]

Enough said! Stands for reason why we had no representatives in most field events and very few in the track events. No exposure, no sponsorship, no money, no athletes. 😳

[@SoyArgentino420]

I rarely leave a comment but I want my algorithm to give me more of this. Incredible video, really informative about something I was totally unaware of, I look forward to more

[@1972dsrai]

I always thought the National Lottery was its biggest source of revenue or is that more for individual athletes? One problem athletics has is most people are only interested when its the Olympics and World Championships and its competing with other sports with bigger profiles and fan bases ensuring TV channels will pay more to show them.

[@katiespencer534]

The national lottery pay the athletes their APA grant - which more or less acts as a salary

[@TheWave251]

Thank you, very nice content. You have crisp, clear, polished delivery and straight facts. Would be great to hear you unpick some facts on cycling across the UK and Europe. Subscribed.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

An excellent idea, thank you for engaging 🙏🏾

[@willplumtree8061]

Jordan, you deserve a job at UK Athletics for getting me interested in UK Athletics!!!!!

[@danielle9214]

This was a really interesting video and a good insight on uk athletics

[@madtimesmedia8609]

Great breakdown once again! Keep up the incredible analysis pieces (subscribed)

[@Ryan.Thomson]

Brilliant video! I’ve been a massive fan of the sport my whole life and even I couldn’t imagine much worse than sitting outside for 8 hours watching British champs. Something has to change in order to get more eyes on the sport in this country

[@KendoPicaro]

UK sports never had the Like Mike moment that the NBA had where they took one of their best athletes and turned them into a lifestyle

[@TheLongPlayUK]

An interesting point, who in the last say 30 years do you think would have been worthy of that kind of marketing push? Can you suggest some?

[@richybling]

Very informative and engaging!

[@Sydsourtrout]

First video of yours I’ve seen. Good stuff

[@distantfuture]

Great video, really glad your channel was promoted to my feed. Keep up the good work & sorry about Sancho 🤣

[@stafforddavis5638]

Thank you. Explains a lot. UK showcased some pretty extraordinary talent this Olympics. I wonder ed why I wasn’t hearing about them prior. Quite a shame.

[@henrymilleruk100]

Please please please cover the state of rugby. There is so much to cover purely from the UK at the top tier and second tier level and even compare to other systems like France. Or comparisons to other smaller sports like rugby. It feels dire but would be so keen to hear your insight

[@ckcity5200]

Great work bro. Had no clue.

[@kevinjohns3872]

The GB team wore Adidas at the Paris Olympics so I'm a little confused with the Nike Link?

[@JMundy168]

Because it's a separate British Olympic Association deal

[@tascrphs]

Bravo! Must say, start to end, this was a wonderfully produced story and definitely captured the essence of U.K. Athletics challenges... and that's coming from an American (who is in America) - i.e. I don't follow UK sports outside of Football and the Olympics. You've got yourself a sub.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

An amazing compliment thank you so much. Glad you enjoy and glad to see folks from across the Pond enjoying. Welcome 🙏🏾

[@user-om2fg7yh6s]

Great video - it needs to be called out. There’s probably a link between the bad business and the lack of talent that can compete at the highest level. The media will act like we’re doing well but really and truly we won a few silvers/bronze and have no top tier athletes competing in the blue ribbon events. It’s appalling.

[@Astro2024]

Mathew Hudson-Smith is pretty top tier. As is KJT and Keely

[@user-om2fg7yh6s]

@@Astro2024 KJT & Keely dont compete in blue ribbon events. We have no competitors in 100m, 200m, 110m Hurdles, women's 400m. The fact that we haven't had an Olympic champion in the 100m since Linford Christie is an absolute disgrace.

[@jujutrini8412]

Thank you for this. I did not know anything about this so I want to get more eyes to your channel. Government should not have given them any money they should have just taken it over.

[@cp4512]

Lots of other sports get by with very little money. People need to pay for their own hobbies/sports or be good enough to become professional if they can earn (not just be handed) enough money.

[@nathanielhill5887]

Regarding the brodcast section, I've actually spoken to Pete Andrews, head of Channel 4 sport recently, and did a side project for them. I could give you an interview if you want?

[@kingchance7628]

Excellent breakdown, thank you!

[@bernardspence5294]

Team GB&NI had a fantastic athletic meet. They finished 3rd when ranked by total medals. They were unlucky to win more Golds but that is sport. More worrying than being unlucky is Australia who ended 4th and they have a home Olympics on the horizon. Jamaica won only 1 gold compared to 4 to 6 golds in each of the last 3 Olympics. That single gold came in the field!

[@craigbrown04]

Yet another fantastic and insightful video, bravo. After the Olympics and the interest it brings, got to hope that a sponsor stepa forward to help grow T&F. It needs more provision and promotion in achoolla rather than default football for boys and netball for girls.

[@hermanirish6794]

Thanks for the video really learnt a lot.

[@xtc2v]

TV viewing figures are falling as everyone has broadband and tend to spend most time online. Less viewing of events on legacy media means less revenue from advertising. It is hard to make money from entertainment these days especially from an offering that is rather dull to watch compared to, say, immersive first person player games. Sport should just be a healthy hobby for all to keep fit and not tainted by money or nationalism. Those trying to make a living out of competitive events should find a more constructive way of helping their country

[@seanadamson280]

Good vid young man 🎉

[@keyboarddancers7751]

I had no idea I was actuallyintereted in these issues.

[@rolandmarkland6844]

Excellent commentary

[@londonbassed5767]

Excellent break Down

[@SBanderaB]

That was well written and delivered......... will look forward to yr future work......... (you did that whole 10mins without saying 'corruption', that must have been a challenge)

[@TheLongPlayUK]

There’s a LOT more in the safeguarding topic too. That’s a complete mess. Sad situauton

[@wattbenj]

I actually think we are a lot better at athletics now than we were ten years ago. It's just that we under performed at Paris 2024. We're better at a wider range of track events now than we were in 2012 and 2016, though at field events we are obviously non-starters. Part of the problem at London 2012 was that the media picked up Farah, Ennis and Rutherford and made it sound as though we as a nation were amazing. Everyone got excited and the rest of the British athletics set-up was completely neglected. Remember 'Super Saturday' for example. To America, that would just be 'Saturday night.' Edit: p.s. in 2021 both meets were moved to Gateshead. The old Birmingham meet which is now defunct, and the London meet. In 2022 just the London meet was in Birmingham, and the Birmingham meet was cancelled permanently.

[@PaulHewlett-w3c]

Well said and very informative young man!! Keep up the great work. I don't see why you are NOT working for the BBC!!! Or are you?? Well done anyway!! Keep on digging, there is more you have missed!!!

[@adamdickinson2894]

This earned a subscription

[@madams989]

The bottom line is, unfortunately, athletics just isn’t a sport people want to watch on a regular basis. If it can be changed up somehow, and made more interesting to watch, more team stuff etc, somehow, maybe it’ll make more money. But as it stands i can’t see it changing as the demand isn’t there.

[@Vintagestylewins]

We literally hold commonwealth games lol England is just lazy

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I think this too but then every athletics meet I watch is packed. Every Diamond League event is usually sold out across Europe and everyone waits for the T&F when the Olympics comes around for the competition to really “get going”. It’s a very simple sport to understand for the casual. I get that maybe a short supply means the events that happen are consumed more but it often makes me think… the demand must be there?

[@ex4u_]

Night of the 10k PBs is a great example of how to make an athletics event more inviting for punters

[@TheBenNagy]

In my opinion nobody is really interested in athletics in the uk (outside of 1 diamond league a year) because there’s no support for grass roots. UK Athletics have LONG neglected grass roots - no getting coaches in, very little support for clubs and coaches, no support for clubs getting kids involved, no engagement with schools and the potential for getting literally a whole nation of kids into the sport. Nobody in this country cares about athletics because the governing body have let it languish and not supported it and not got anyone involved in it, from the grass roots level for many years - a whole UK generation since 1990s doesn’t care much about athletics - contrast that to the response it gets in USA/Jamaica. And then don’t forget - UK Athletics have also killed the elite / sub elite crowd - their focus on ONLY medal potential athletes is killing ambition in young athletes and the potential next stars who are 2-3 years off being internationally elite but can’t sustain an elite athletes training lifestyle with no funding and no support. So the athletes who do miraculously make it to international standard despite the lack of grass roots support end up dropping out. UKA left multiple top 30 world ranked athletes at home for the Olympics because they didn’t reach unrealistic qualifying standards, and UKA even ignored multiple invites for athletes from World Athletics, so that they didn’t need to support them and save themselves a little cash, while only supporting athletes that they’re banking on bringing them in some sponsorship cash. UK Athletics is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. This doesn’t even go into the insane standards that UKA have for athletes to get any funding at all, and meagre funding at that. This was a good video but it left out so much! You could do another whole video on UKA’s lack of support for athletes, and how THAT is killing the sport. (Ironically, investing in grass roots could actually save athletics in the uk, and UK Athletics as an entity, due to actually getting people interested in athletics and competing and then the revenue streams would follow). I’m actually asking you personally, can you do some research and do another video on this? UKA has killed the sport for too long and I’m sick of it having this strangle hold on it.

[@Josh-uh4ck]

@@TheLongPlayUK I don't think people would find regular athletics competitions entertaining because the outcome of every track and field event will likely be the same, and there aren't as many variables in an event to keep fans engaged compared to football, tennis, cricket, etc. The simplicity of athletics is probably the reason it's not as popular as other sports.

[@PrentisHancock1]

Very informative video. Seb Coe is trying to modernise the sport by increasing the number of events, including the World Athletics Championships, making them annual in the years in between the Olympics. That's a good start, and Michael Johnson's league will also be interesting. What is also needed is a year-round league structure, along with decent coverage. And a national stadium with a permanent track that is in regular use - something so blindingly obvious they don't seem to think about. But one of the main things that is killing the sport is the rise of greedy subscription-based media companies, like Flo Sports, and World Athletics' complete inability to keep them out. World Athletics' video coverage is also so disgraceful that it alienates its own audience. Coe is completely blind to his own organisation's conduct which, on the one hand is trying to grow the sport, yet on the other is simultaneously responsible for damaging it.

[@fault.]

It’s also just not a popular sport Unless you’re a Bolt, Phelps or Biles

[@aliabdi2759]

And mo farah

[@godwindracing6056]

@@fault. ...or the Chinese women's volleyball team - their win at the 2016 Olympics is regarded as their equivalent to Germany's win at the 2014 World Cup. It was so popular that there was a blockbuster film made (Leap) starring most of their players. And their 1st round loss in Tokyo was seen as that equivalent to Germany's loss at the 2018 World Cup.

[@godwindracing6056]

@@aliabdi2759 ...and Paula Radcliffe, Daley Thompson, Linford Christie and Jess Ennis too

[@Cooe.]

.... Wait... Does the same organization that controls Track & Field in the UK also control Swimming and Gymnastics??? WTF??? O_o I thought "Athletics" was just what Brits called T&F.

[@VibratingHigher.]

Immediate follow. Great post!

[@jimbo6059]

The tv rights were split a few years back, before you started to follow it. ITV and the BBC used to screen events. This was in the days before sky and other things. The London meet in the days before 2012 we as at Crystal Palace, but that track and facilities is now so dilapidated that they would not be able to run the diamond league meet there now. It is really bad now though.

[@adriana7144]

There is way more to it than you covered. As someone who has worked on the commercial side of other ‘olympic’ sports in the UK, there are an awful lot of unseen factors you’re working around to keep any level of cash coming in.