A Hayward Field visit is a pilgrimage for some people and a curiosity for others, and honestly both crowds leave happy. The University of Oregon rebuilt the stadium in 2020 into a 12,650-seat wood-and-glass bowl with a tower shaped like a torch, and it's now the closest thing American track has to a cathedral. Here's how to see it and the town that grew up around it.
Seeing the stadium
Hayward sits on the UO campus at 15th and Agate. There's no daily public tour, but on non-event days you can often walk up to the fence along Agate Street and see straight through the glass to the track. The plaza on the north side has the bronze of Bill Bowerman and a historical timeline worth ten minutes. Inside the tower (open during events and some weekdays) there's a small museum floor with Prefontaine memorabilia and the shoe history that eventually became Nike.
Parking is easiest in the campus garages off 13th or on the street south of 18th. Game weekends and meet days are a different story: see below.
Catching a meet
The stadium makes the most sense full. The big ones:
- Prefontaine Classic (late May or early summer): the top Diamond League meet in the U.S. World-record chasers, Olympic champions, sold-out crowd. Tickets go on sale months early.
- Oregon Twilight / Oregon Relays (April to May): collegiate meets, cheap or free, and you can sit anywhere. Great for kids.
- NCAA Championships (June, in years Eugene hosts): four days of the best college athletes in the country.
- U.S. Olympic Trials (every four years, Eugene has hosted most recent ones).
On meet days, park at Autzen and take the shuttle, or bike. Eugene is a bike town and the river path runs right to campus.
Pre's Trail and Pre's Rock
Steve Prefontaine is the reason "Track Town" is a thing. Two stops honor him. Pre's Trail is a 4-mile bark-chip loop system in Alton Baker Park, across the footbridge from campus. It's soft, flat, shaded, and full of actual runners doing actual workouts. Run it, walk it, bring the dog on leash. Parking at the Alton Baker main lot off Day Island Road is free.
Pre's Rock is on Skyline Boulevard, up the hill southeast of campus, at the curve where he crashed in 1975. It's a small memorial covered in race bibs, medals, and shoes people leave behind. Quiet, a little heavy, and worth the drive. Park along the shoulder with your hazards on; it's a residential street.
The Nike thread
Bowerman coached at Hayward and made shoes on a waffle iron. Phil Knight ran for him. The rest is a company. If you care about that history, the Nike store downtown on Willamette Street is small but leans into the Eugene origin story, and the tower museum at Hayward has the early prototypes. The Knight name is on half the buildings on campus, so you'll see it without trying.
Eating like a runner
Runners eat a lot, and Eugene has obliged. Off the Waffle (two locations) is the post-long-run standard. Prince Puckler's on 19th and Agate, a five-minute walk from Hayward, is the ice cream stop, and yes, that's the one from the Obama visit. For dinner, the Whiteaker neighborhood has Ninkasi, Falling Sky, and a dozen spots within a few blocks. If you're here in autumn, it stacks nicely with a Ducks game; our Eugene in fall guide covers that weekend.
Where to stay and what else
The Eugene House is our four-bedroom house in south Eugene, with a fenced yard for the dog and walking access to the Ridgeline Trail if you want dirt under your shoes. It's a ten-minute drive to Hayward and books up fast for the Pre Classic and Trials, so look early.
For the rest of the trip, Spencer Butte is the classic 90-minute summit hike with a view of the whole valley, Saturday Market runs April through November, and wine country starts twenty minutes south. Our Eugene things-to-do page has the longer list.
Stand at the top of the east grandstand, look down the homestretch, and you'll get it. Even if you've never run a lap in your life.