Nike Pre Classic on October 4th? Not so fast, says University of Oregon...

The renovated Hayward Field at night
(University of Oregon photo)

A few hours after our post on the Nike Prefontaine Classic yesterday being rescheduled for October 4th, the University of Oregon pushed back, stating that the school was never contacted about staging the meet on that date.

According to both Ken Goe of the Oregonian, and Chris Hansen of the Eugene Register-Guard, the University of Oregon released a statement Tuesday (May 12th) afternoon that said:

“In light of guidelines issued last week by Oregon Governor Kate Brown and continued efforts to safely reopen the state, we cannot confirm the availability of Hayward Field,”

“The health and safety of our community is our top priority as we adhere to guidance from the governor, the Oregon Health Authority and Lane County. The university is working with Gov. Brown and appropriate state and local agencies toward a phased reopening of the state, community and campus. While the University of Oregon was not consulted on the provisional date announced by the event organizers, we will work with them to determine whether there is an avenue for the event to take place within the broader reopening framework.”

Given that Brown last week extended strict social guidelines because of the worldwide pandemic Coronavirus situation until the end of September, an extension of the safety restrictions would probably be enough to scrub the meet for 2020.

According to Goe, Pre Classic meet director Tom Jordan said UO officials were notified in the early hours Tuesday, before the Diamond League schedule was announced. The Wanda Diamond League release was announced shortly after noon, Central European Time (3 am Pacific time).

“The whole idea behind Oct. 4 was to be kind of a placeholder because things are changing so dramatically,” Jordan said. “It’s not that Oct. 4 is our steadfast date.”

One item we neglected to mention in our post yesterday is that the proposed October 4th date is one day after the University of Washington football team is scheduled to face Oregon at Autzen Stadium. In a best-case scenario, hotel rooms in Eugene will be at a premium, assuming that spectators are allowed for both events.

Also remember that World Athletics announced earlier that any marks from April 6th to November 30th will not count towards meeting the 2020NE Olympic Games qualifying standards.

The bottom line? Stay tuned.

NOTE: Material from the Oregonian and the Register-Guard was used in this post. The Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics contributed to this report.

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