You knew it was coming. Some part of you has always known it was coming. It felt as inevitable as the rising sun, as unstoppable as a rumbling freight train. You knew it was coming, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t sting. Eugene – for the fifth consecutive year – will host the 2025 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships. They’re slated to be held on a slightly condensed timeline from July 31st through August 3rd, but they’re still in Oregon.

On one hand, we’re at least somewhat Eugene apologists. It’s a charming college town in a beautiful part of the country, and once you actually make it to TrackTown, USA, Hayward Field is the best place in the U.S. to watch track. But it’s not the easiest or cheapest place to get to. There aren’t as many hospitality options as a major city. And as track fans – nay, as human beings! – we would appreciate a little newness… some novelty… the chance to plan a summer vacation around track and field that takes us to another pocket of this vast country.

But here we are, and here are our choices. You can drop a couple thousand dollars to join a few hundred of your fellow track nerds on your annual pilgrimage to Eugene, you can throw yourself a one-person pity party as you couch-rot your way through four days of track action all alone, or… you can turn USAs into a party anywhere in the world.

Watching sports is always significantly more fun when it’s done socially. That’s a big part of the reason you’re bummed about the whole Eugene thing – you want to take in the action surrounded by other track and field nuts. You want to high five a stranger after your favorite 200m runner sneaks into the final. You want to slow-clap a pole vaulter to a new personal best. And you sure as hell want to boo your loudest boo when the officials announce the latest BS disqualification.

But what if we told you there’s a way to approximate it right where you live? It’s called rounding up a few pals and finding a sports bar that’s willing to put the meet on at least one of its dozens of televisions.

In an ideal world, whatever spot you pick will have food in addition to drinks, since chowing down on wings is classic “we’re watching sports together” material, and it gives the teetotalers in your midst something nice to indulge in. You’ve got a little over eight months to cultivate a relationship with a local pub/brewery/taproom/public house/meadery/watering hole/etc., so get out there and start scouting and researching places and charming barkeeps.

If you’re not of drinking age or you’re balling on a budget, bring the sports bar home. Pick up a few too many bags of your favorite chips, move a couple extra chairs into the living room, and have the gang over for a watch party. Better yet, invite your whole cross country team or running group and really lean into the whole “run clubs are the new dating apps” vibe by turning some casual acquaintances into fast friends as they find out they both love – or hate – the same hurdler.

Other sports don’t live or die by where their championships take place; they thrive on the communal experience of hooting and hollering over Super Bowl ads and March Madness upsets. Eugene is a state of mind that you can attain in dive bars and basements everywhere.

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