International Track Association

The International Track Association (ITA) was a professional track and field organization that existed in the United States from 1972 to 1976.

The ITA initially attracted many of the big track and field stars of the day to run in its meets and initially garnered much attention for its meets. However, a lack of television money and the inability to attract new stars after the 1976 Olympics led to its downfall.

The International Track Association (ITA) was formed in 1972 after the Munich Olympics. The ITA brought professionalism, defined as athletes making an income from their athletic performance, to the sport of track and field. The aim of the ITA was to have a series of meets involving about 50 top athletes forming a track and field tour similar to those existing in golf and tennis. The meets were initially scheduled only in the USA and Canada but future expansion was envisaged to include meets in Europe and the Far East.

Prior to the formation of the ITA, track and field athletes were amateur athletes, so required by the Olympic creed of the day. The only income they received from their sport was "under the table." As a result, many American athletes' careers were frequently cut short shortly after their subsidized participation at the collegiate level ended, while Eastern Bloc and other international athletes frequently had their careers extended, subsidized ostensibly by participation in the Army or police forces. Pressure from the athletes had been mounting for years to find an answer. Track and Field News discussed the subject with its cover article "Take the Money and Run" in November 1971.

The ITA was the brainchild of Michael O'Hara who had gained experience in the sports of basketball and ice hockey of creating new rival leagues in competition to existing established leagues, namely the American Basketball Association and the World Hockey Association respectively.

The ITA was officially launched on October 25, 1972. It received immediate hostility from the then governing body in the United States for track and field the AAU. The AAU banned all athletes and officials who took part in ITA competitions and put pressure on television companies not to televise the ITA meets. The athletes were also banned from competing in any Olympic Games. To help protect the athletes from retribution by the AAU if the venture failed, O'Hara placed them on negative covenant contracts – here they promised not to run for anyone else rather than to run for the ITA – with the contracts only going into legal effect if the venture took off.

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