On Thursday, New Balance, the title sponsor of New Balance Nationals Indoor and New Balance Nationals Outdoor since 2010 and 2011, respectively, announced it will be parting ways with the National Scholastic Athletic Foundation and will be creating its own meet starting in 2021.
"Our priority has been and will continue to be to provide a first-class event that offers the opportunity for high school students to compete against the best in the country," Tom Carleo, the Vice President of Performance Running at New Balance, said in a press release. "We are excited to continue to bring the energy and competition the New Balance High School Nationals is known for and are committed to providing a seamless transition for the high school athletes."
It will end a 10-year partnership with NSAF, an organization that in recent years has worked to bring international-based meets to high school athletes in the United States. Recent opportunities have included meets in the Caribbean and Europe.
NSAF continues to plan an outdoor national championship meet this calendar year, tentatively scheduled to be held from July 16-19 in Greensboro, North Carolina. But New Balance is not currently found anywhere as a sponsor.
Starting in 2021, the New Balance High School Nationals meet will be held at the New Balance Track and Field Center on 168th Street in New York City on March 12-14. The move by New Balance will align with the opening of The TRACK at New Balance, a state-of-the-art indoor track and field facility which is set to open in Brighton, MA, in 2022.
New Balance will release details about its 2021 indoor and outdoor meets in the following months.
Press Release From New Balance
Since 2010, New Balance has been the presenting sponsor of the New Balance High School Nationals in cooperation with the NSAF. Over the past decade, these meets have been recognized as the premium indoor and outdoor high school track and field competition in America. We are proud of the energy, creativity and excitement that our organization has added to these competitions. Moving forward, New Balance has decided to part ways with the NSAF. New Balance will organize the New Balance High School Nationals events on its own starting in 2021. "Our priority has been and will continue to be to provide a first-class event that offers the opportunity for high school students to compete against the best in the country, says Tom Carleo, Vice President of Performance Running at New Balance. "We are excited to continue to bring the energy and competition the New Balance High School Nationals is known for and are committed to providing a seamless transition for the high school athletes." Starting in 2021, the New Balance High School Nationals Indoor meet will be hosted at the New Balance Track and Field Center on 168th St in NYC on March 12-14. Future indoor events will be held at The TRACK at new balance, the state-of-the-art facility that is set to open across from the New Balance headquarters in Brighton, MA in 2022. Additional details about the date and location for the 2021 outdoor meet will be provided in the following months.
Update: 3:15 p.m. EST:
The NSAF has clarified an earlier report by MileSplit:
The NSAF owns and has always owned the outdoor nationals, starting when we first put it on in 1991 in California. Since then, our other title sponsors over the past 30 years have been adidas, Foot Locker, American Airlines and Nike, and we moved the meet to NC State and then NCAT. New Balance became the outdoor meet title sponsor in 2010, then indoor in 2011.We own and administer every aspect of putting on these national meets, which includes much, much more than handling registration and public relations. Our NSAF executive director Jim Spier is the meet director and every aspect of administering the meet comes from our staff.