In the shadow of the lucrative and successful 2000 Olympic Trials and today hosting one of the biggest events in college sports, Sacramento has become the capital of track and field.
Or so it seems.

As the city welcomes the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium, it does so with the knowledge that others are jockeying to wrest away future meets.

Millions of dollars for the local economy -- and national prestige -- are at stake, with the last Olympic Trials having pumped an estimated $24 million into the Sacramento region. The NCAA event -- featuring 1,088 college athletes and tens of thousands fans -- is expected to generate $2 million to $3 million.

The Sacramento Sports Commission, which has secured the 2004 Trials for the city, will lobby heavily for three consecutive years of NCAA meets starting in 2005. But so will a well-financed group from Los Angeles, and a tradition-steeped crew from Eugene, Ore.

The same three West Coast cities are likely contenders for the 2008 Olympic Trials, in addition to other former hosts, such as New Orleans.

In 2000, Sacramento hosted what was widely considered the most successful U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials ever, on the basis of attendance and apparent fan appreciation. The eight-day event attracted a record 187,104 fans with daily sellouts at Hornet Stadium.

Even so, the commission's nonprofit foundation lost $500,000 staging the event. As with other sports, track and field has realized that corporate sponsorship is just as important as fan support.

"Money has become a major factor because it's so expensive to put on a Trials now," said Tom Jordan, the Eugene-based meet director of the Prefontaine Classic. "There are constantly increasing requirements on the part of bidders, and if you don't have a war chest of several million dollars to call upon, you just don't have a chance."

If it's about money, Sacramento's rival to the south must be considered a major competitor.

In Los Angeles, billionaire Philip Anschutz and his AEG sports firm recently opened a $150 million sports complex in Carson it hopes will become a major U.S. home for track and field.

The Home Depot Center, 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, includes separate stadiums for soccer and tennis in addition to one devoted to track and field.

AEG christened its track venue June 1 with the Home Depot Center Track & Field Invitational, a sold-out event that attracted more than 10,000 spectators. AEG already is a major sports corporation, with ownership of six Major League Soccer teams, the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and a stake in the Los Angeles Lakers. The firm also owns the Staples Center.

"The reason we got involved in track and field is that we recognized the history of the sport in Los Angeles and we recognized a market need," said AEG Vice President Bill Peterson. "We'd like this facility to be one of the top facilities in the U.S. and, hopefully, the world."

AEG sees a future in track and field -- and a future in making money from the sport. The company aims to host a mix of collegiate and professional meets at the Home Depot Center.

L.A. bids for major track and field events have three things in their favor: money, a new facility and a once-fervent track and field fan base that has seen few major meets since the 1980s.

"When you talk about the greatest track and field city in the U.S., you've got to put Los Angeles on there," said Rich Perelman, meet director for the Home Depot Invitational. "But Los Angeles has not had an organizer like AEG with enough capital to put on world-class meets. Now that AEG is in the picture, we have the ability."

AEG is bidding for the NCAA meets from 2005 through 2007, as well as the USA Track & Field Championships in 2005. And while AEG has no formal plans to chase the 2008 Olympic Trials, Peterson said he assumes the company will be interested in hosting it.

John McCasey, Sacramento Sports Commission executive director, is a little less subtle.

"Our goal very clearly is to bring back the '08 Trials," he said. "Let's not pussyfoot around, because we're going after them."

Sacramento isn't without its own backers.

The 2004 Olympic Trials will cost about $6 million to run, according to McCasey. Stockton developer Alex G. Spanos has dedicated more than $1 million toward the event -- about half of that toward improving facilities at Sac State -- and McCasey hopes to have another $1.5 million in corporate donations by next year.

While the commission's nonprofit foundation lost $500,000 in 2000, McCasey said, the group had one-time stadium upgrade costs that won't occur this time.

"You always want the Alex Spanoses and more of them, but the problem is there aren't a lot of them out there," McCasey said. "We haven't found that other person, but that doesn't mean we've fallen short. We'll have raised $2 million in sponsorship revenue by next year."

Jordan, director of the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, said that city also would be interested in the 2008 Trials, as it is every time the opportunity presents itself. The sport's diehards have long considered the city of 140,000 in central Oregon as the spiritual home of U.S. track and field and affectionately dub it "Tracktown, U.S.A."

While some think Eugene's Hayward Field (17,000 capacity) is too small to host a Trials, Jordan sees financial backing as a bigger factor.

"I can think of a guy 115 miles from here who, if he wanted something to happen, could help make it happen," he said, referring to Nike boss and University of Oregon alumnus Phil Knight.

When Sacramento won the 2004 Olympic Trials bid, it was the first time in more than two decades that a city had won consecutive hosting rights. The last time it occurred was when Eugene hosted three straight in 1972, 1976 and 1980.

It's unclear whether previous experience serves as an advantage or disadvantage.

"The Trials are the crown jewel in terms of exposure and marketing of the sport," Jordan said. "What you gain by having it in the same place multiple times is great organization and an established fan base, but on the other hand, it excludes the rest of the country."

USA Track & Field chief Craig Masback praised Sacramento after the 2000 Trials -- and does so today. But he said it's too early to speculate about Sacramento's chances for 2008. USATF will distribute bid applications in January and decide by the end of next year.

Masback downplayed money's clout in a Trials bid, saying that while the "financial deal does make a difference, it's not a primary or even secondary consideration" compared with fan experience and meet organization.

In fact, he said, Sacramento's success encouraged AEG to build its venue in Los Angeles.

"I think (Los Angeles) intends to be very involved in our sport, and I consider that a good thing," Masback said. "But I don't necessarily consider that a threat to Sacramento. Because if we asked them to hold every major track and field event every year, I assume they'd say no, just to keep their sanity."