The 106th SF Bay To Breakers signals an event that has been considered oh-so San Franciscan on the decline. The unofficial (but should be official) city party that once drew as many as 75,000 registered runners, and about 100,000 people total, has decreased in size to where just 30,000 people signed up to run, and overall estimates point to the smallest version of the Bay To Breakers in many decades.
It’s so small that Zazzle took its name off of it, and local tech icon Craigslist came to save the sponsorship day, and then later drop out of it. So, no more pink running monkeys now. The Bay To Breakers is now so small that AEG dumped its ownership of it, and literally gave it to Casey Wasserman and the Wasserman Media Group – who lives in LA.
And, perhaps the saddest news of all, that means no more Angela Fang as the boss of the Bay To Breakers. Not having her around is a huge loss.
It’s a sad end to Mardi Gras in San Francisco. The Bay To Breakers was a celebration of true freedom and fun. Now, before you say that I’m forgetting the constant run of urine and trash, my response is that I’m not at all. I am aware that is what brought down the Bay To Breakers, but it didn’t have to be that way at all.
The overall problem is that San Francisco has not officially adopted the Bay To Breakers as its own entity: something it runs and is responsible for. The City has allowed the private sector to handle it, and in such a way that the real advantage of the Bay To Breakers, as an expression of San Francisco, is totally lost.
The Bay To Breakers should be ran by the SF Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. It should have the floats and incorporate designated cocktail party areas (Polo Grounds?) developed to draw corporate sponsors. The Bay To Breakers should recognize that there are a lot of people who just want to have inexpensive fun. So why not encourage restaurants to have Bay To Breakers day menus with special (low) prices, then communicate which eateries are participating in the day via web site, mobile app, and hand-out cards?
And the Bay To Breakers should be known for top knotch entertainment. I mean on the level of The Rolling Stones or Jay-Z. I’ve blogged this before, and I’ll say it again, the main problem with all of the past ills is they happened after the Bay To Breakers stopped having named entertainment at the Polo Grounds. When Ray Charles and the Raylettes were on the bill, people made a bee-line for the grounds, and didn’t stop to mess around.
Just think what the reaction would be if, say, Katy Perry and Snoop Dog were the headliners? The focus of the Bay To Breakers would shift to the Polo Grounds, and the event could be staged such that only Bay To Breakers-bib wearers got in to see the event.
So you would have to buy a registration to even stand a chance of getting in to the grounds, and even then, it would be first-come, first served, and after a point, the grounds would have to be closed.
The best way to handle the overflow crowd would be two giant screens placed outside the grounds, and a live local TV broadcast.
I’m telling you that would revive the stature of The Bay To Breakers. It’s on the decline now, and its because few seem to care to restore it to its rightful place as the best expression of what San Francisco is, and can be, all about.
Stay tuned.