USATF Masters T&F Secretary Bob Cahners started spreading the news at 10:25 this morning — that New York City’s Armory track center beat the bid from Boston and the New England USATF Association to host the 2007 USATF National Masters Indoor Championships. The vote was 38-12 in favor of New York. It’s the first time the masters indoor nationals have been awarded to the Metropolitan Athletics Congress and the Armory track.

The meet venue had been a candidate to host the inaugural World Masters Indoor Championships in March 2004 but was aced out by the inferior bid (technically) from Sindelfingen, Germany.
The 2005 indoor nationals are in Boise, Idaho, and the 2006 indoor nationals return for the umpteenth time to Boston’s Reggie Lewis center at Roxbury College.
Tom Buffalano, the Armory’s marketing manager, did most of the talking for the bid presentation, which came second. Boston’s Lee Hess presented his city’s bid earlier.
Buffalano began by showing a five-minute video focusing on the January 2004 opening of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame at the Armory, which is in the Washington Heights section of New York. The video was a time-waster, however, since it showed mainly youngsters running and jumping. Guest remarks on the video by Billy Mills, Don Bragg, Al Oerter and Chanda Cheesborough (all talking about how the Armory can get kids jazzed about the sport) were pointless in our setting as well. Oh well.
But then Buffalano began hitting some hot buttons, saying the Armory would be financially responsible for the meet (as opposed to the pauper USATF association), and talked about how the Armory gets city, state and even federal support. OK, cool.
Ears really perked up when Buffalano said that the Armory would “add the masters legacy to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.” Specifically, he pledged to “begin a campaign to take inventory” (of masters memorabilia) and create an exhibit on masters track at the Hall of Fame by 2007 — and “to do a ceremony as befitting to masters as the Hall of Fame inductees last January.”
Only one problem. Did this mean that efforts so far to add a masters component to the Hall of Fame have been inconsequential? (Over the past several months, a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity has sought to make the National Track & Field Hall of Fame keep its promise to create a Masters T&F Hall of Fame exhibit, since none exists at the moment, even though the award has been made annually since 1997.)
Anuther thing: Was this a subtle way of pressuring the USATF Masters T&F Committee into winning the meet — give us the 2007 nationals or kiss the MT&F Hall of Fame goodbye?
A somewhat peeved George Mathews (the re-elected chairman of USATF MT&F) pointedly said: “I don’t want to wait until 2007.”
Thankfully, Buffalano said straight out: “It’s not contingent on the bid…. We want to to do it right. Let’s sit down and plan and get it done. We really want to make sure the masters are recognized.”
A few minutes later, the downside of a National Track & Field Hall of Fame attraction became apparent. A Masters Committee delegate asked: Will you charge admission for spectators?
The New York representatives (which included local track honcho Gary Snyder) tried to dodge the question by saying that athletes’ families would get a “an all-inclusive package” deal that includes admission to the National Track Hall of Fame, transportation and other amenities.
When I shouted out: “So there isn’t free admission to the meet?” I was ignored. Nuff said.
Of perhaps greater concern to out-of-towners is lodging. New York’s hotel rates are dang high. But Buffalano said something in the $70 range “for a dormitory setting” was possible, up to about $170 a night for the “luxury” property.
The meet might be broadcast by the YES Network or the local Fox Sports channel; 30 laptop computers would be made available to meet management; and Wi-Fi and T1 Internet access would be available.
The meet may be four days instead of the usual three, the New York reps said, to be able to feature an indoor weight pentathlon on the opening day, without lots of other events going on around the track at the same time. This got the dander up of a few delegates, who wondered out loud whether the Armory folks were trying to usurp authority from USATF on what events to stage at an indoor nationals, since apparently the weight pentathlon is not a traditional indoor event.
But when it comes to throwing weight around, New York is world-class. We’ll see how potential disputes pan out in the next couple years.