This week on the CITIUS MAG Podcast, three-time Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser announced that he is planning an “American shot put league.”

Here’s what you need to know:

- Crouser says right now the planning is in a content production phase right now. The goal is for what he describes as a “soft launch” in the spring of 2025 at a meet that it “fits well with.” A full rollout would take place in 2026 with multiple competitions in a set block of time – a true series format.

- The purpose of the league would be to focus on the aspects that make throwing events more marketable and presenting those to “an American audience in a format that makes sense.”

- The league will have a heavy social media focus, as Crouser thinks the format of field events lends itself better to content creation and will “emerge as the pinnacle of the sport.”

- The league would most likely be scheduled for after that year's major championships, so that throwers can get several meets in quick succession without affecting championship performance.

- Crouser has been adamant about tapping into the fanbases of strongman competitions after seeing that sport's rapid growth in popularity over the last several years.

- This development comes after new endeavors such as Grand Slam Track and ATHLOS have opted to exclude field events, focusing solely on the track.

Here’s what Crouser said:

- “It seems really promising. The athletes that I’ve talked to about it, especially in the shot, have been extremely for it.”

- “I think overall it’ll be very, very good for the sport. I think in the modern social media age that field events are going to emerge as almost more of the pinnacle of the sport. That’s the thing with sprints, distance, you have one race to produce content around, where in a field event you have 20, 30, 40, 50 key moments. Especially in the different kind of format we have planned, where every single attempt will matter to either placing or elimination. It’ll be much more engaging to the audience, as well as kind of a goldmine in the sense of producing content for the modern social era of the sport.”

- The last thing I want to do is take away from performance at the majors. For the longest time we’ve been focused on a season that runs from spring to summer, and it’s easier to put these rapid fire attempts after the majors… With World Champs being the last meet, I think we’d probably do our series in the fall where you can get into a competition frequency and not have it cost you a World Champs or an Olympic title. I want it to go fast with multiple comps so it’s almost a replacement for training. So it’d be a true series. So you have a season, and then it’s like compete, travel, shakeout day, compete, so that you can actually a true series that builds on each other. You have stories and timelines instead of compete, 6 weeks, compete twice, 4 weeks, compete, and then a major."

What other throwers have said about exclusion of field events from other endeavors in the sport:

- “My goal is to get shot put in the Arnold Classic, all the strongman competitions, to start featuring us. When you come to a track meet, the fans are runners who might be excited to watch the shot putters roll around there, but it’s maybe not the same background. If we go to the Arnold Classic or the LA Fitness Expo, there’s a lot of meatheads who understand the shot put and the periodization behind it that might be a little bit closer of an audience. It’s great for us to break up sometimes, and the throwers might need to have a little expo outside of the track the same way that Michael Johnson’s trying to highlight the track events and the story behind it. I’m a huge fan of Michael Johnson for doing that. Any time that we can promote our sport, even if it’s just one facet of it, is a win for everybody.” - Three-time Olympic silver medalist Joe Kovacs at the U.S. Olympic Trials

- “I don’t think that the throws are boring, necessarily, I think it’s just that we don’t have the opportunity or the exposure to get out there. We have a lot of characters… if they’re just given the chance to have a voice out there and get a little bit of attention. Dipping into the world of strongmen, we know how popular that is. Strength sports are insanely popular, there just needs to be a crossover episode between the throws and strongmen. We could just as easily host a shot put competition at the Arnold Classic just off to the side, I think that’d draw a huge crowd.” - Olympic fourth-place finisher Payton Otterdahl on the CITIUS MAG Podcast at the U.S. Olympic Trials

Listen to the full interview with Ryan Crouser on the CITIUS MAG Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.