Noah Lyles delves into challenges likely to face sprints after Paris Olympics

Noah Lyles has predicted that sprinters and their ecosystem will struggle to adjust to the 'fame' that comes with newly released docuseries 'SPRINT' as the sport lacks proper infrastructure. 

The 100m Olympic champion and 200m bronze medalist was speaking in an interview with former NFL player Shannon Sharpe on the Night Cap Show, where he spoke candidly about some of the challenges that could face track after the Paris Olympics.

The series on Netflix focuses on several elite sprinters, including Lyles, and how they navigate training, media scrutiny, and fierce competition following their race to become the world's fastest humans.

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“SPRINT just came out. It is successful around the world. It is successful in the U.S. They’re about to come out with another season. It’s going to do great. The hard part is that we, as a sport, are not ready for the popularity that is going to come. Everybody is going to say, ‘I want to be a track and field fan!’ ‘I want to follow Fred!’ ‘I want to follow Noah!’ ‘I want to follow Erriyon!’ Guess what? We don’t even have a place to go and tell them to watch the track meet.

Because in every other country, it’s in a different place. You gotta get a VPN. You gotta find your own website. You have to find these back alleys to watch regular TV in a different language. We, ourselves, are not ready infrastructurally-wise to say, ‘Hey world! We’ve got something amazing for you.’ That’s the hard part(sic)," he offered. 

Lyles delves into the business end of the sprints, arguing that the Diamond League being dropped by NBC and moving to Flotrack would do more harm to the discipline. 

"Now we are putting it behind a paywall and making it even harder for fans to become new fans. It hurts because I knew this was going to happen. I knew that SPRINT was going to be successful because we have great athletes and great stories. The second part, we are not ready for it yet. We need to get ready and we need to do it fast because it’s coming to LA," he continued. 

Lyles revealed that he was currently in talks with Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track League but the lack of a TV provider has him taking his time to decide.

“We have been in talks since the day I heard about it. Trying to get as much information. Trying to get as much of a feel for what’s going on. There’s a lot that I like that he’s doing. There’s a few things that I think could be a little better.  

The thing that’s stopping me at the heart of it is I have yet to hear of a TV provider. Again, what good is it if we are producing these great times, great shows, these great rivalries and we have nobody seeing it. Now we are in the same problem we are in with the Diamond Leagues and World Championships. I need to hear a TV provider and I need to know that it’s going to be seen consistently," he concluded.