Track: A Star-Spangled Fizzle

Last Saturday morning, ABC was so happy it almost forgot it still employed Dan Dierdorf.

The network of Cosell, Arledge and McKay had just endured two weeks of pompous pathos, courtesy of NBC. It also saw NBC ride Michael Johnson’s jetstream to solid prime-time ratings.

Now it would move to recapture an Olympic moment.

Most of the Olympic running and jumping stars, minus Johnson, were participating in Monaco last Saturday. ABC signed up the meet quickly for “Wide World Of Sports.” Then it promoted it heavily during a Dallas Cowboys-Kansas City Chiefs exhibition football game. Because of the time difference, it was nearly a live broadcast. And the competition wasn’t much. Some sort of quarterback challenge on NBC, and the PGA Championship on CBS.

“The conditions couldn’t have been better,” said Dave Downs, ABC’s director of sports programming.

But the ratings couldn’t have been worse.

“One point four,” Downs said. “NBC had been getting an 18 or 20 for prime-time track and field.

“Just a dismal performance. The only thing you can conclude is that people just won’t watch track and field, for whatever reason. Not unless it’s under the Olympic umbrella.”

How can that be? Track and field was the heartbeat of Atlanta, with Olympic records tumbling every night, and soap operas breaking out in each lane.

There was plenty of juice even before and after Michael Johnson. And speaking of juice, nobody came up positive in the drug room. At last, track and field seemed to have pried its feet free of Ben Johnson’s death grip. It was going to start gaining on more traditional sports, like beach volleyball. Wasn’t it?

“A lot of our people were around in the glory days, when we did the Olympics,” Downs said, “and there’s nothing we’d like better. But the numbers aren’t there.

“People are talking about some sort of match race between Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson at 150 yards, but we couldn’t justify sinking a lot of money in that for, what, 15 seconds? And if somebody wants to talk about a domestic track circuit (and Nike is at least considering it), I don’t know what our level of investment would be.”

Tell the Frankens about it. Al and Don have hauled wood for years, trying to keep track and field flickering in L.A. They saw Atlanta, although they still aren’t sure they believe it.

“People were dancing in the aisles after Michael ran 19.32,” Don Franken said. “It was electric.”

So why can’t it be current?

“Back in the ‘70s, Eamonn Coghlan was breaking mile records in our meets, and they were social occasions,” Franken said. “USC and UCLA were filling up Drake Stadium (at UCLA) for their meets. But when athletes started making a lot of money and commanding appearance fees, it put promoters like us on the spot. When a guy like Michael Johnson wants $100,000, it eats up our sponsorship budget.”

The stars must be greedy, because their careers are so flammable (remember Kevin Young? Quincy Watts?). European promoters have the crowds and the dollars. European kids grow up wanting to jump long and run fast. American kids, with no role models, don’t.

“We need more excitement, more imagination,” Franken said. “We need the rivalries. Gail Devers vs. Gwen Torrence, for example. Then again, the athletes don’t always go for that. Edwin Moses was the worst. He’d go anywhere to avoid the competition and keep his (400-meter hurdle) streak alive.

“If people have an idea something’s going to happen, they’ll come out. They need to create an Olympic Experience at these meets, like the NFL Experience, to give fans a chance to feel they’re participating. One problem is that USA Track and Field is made up of coaches and officials, not marketers. There’s a lack of imagination and ambition.”

It’s possible that track and field is too elemental and needs more frills. Maybe prize money would help. Would Dennis Mitchell be considered more of a commodity if he were known as the world’s leading money-winner in the 100 meters, with, say, $400,000? Maybe.

Can you imagine a world-class twilight meet at Drake Stadium next weekend? “Yeah, but you’d have to bring in some lights,” Franken said.

Can you imagine a world-class twilight meet in the Coliseum, where people hung off the edges as Carl Lewis won four golds in 1984? I’d love to, except somebody took out the track. They had to keep the Raiders, you see.

Can you imagine U.S. vs. Europe? You have the Ryder Cup and the Davis Cup. Why not the Lewis Cup?

“The Ryder Cup is a hit,” said NBC’s sports programming director, Jon Miller. “The Davis Cup is not, because it goes on forever and nobody can keep up with it. That’s a problem track has. Nobody has the feeling that the best performers are all in the same place, at least not until the World Championships and the Olympics.

“The athletes have to bear some responsibility, too.”

Anybody who saw Lewis long jump in front of nobody at the U.S. championships at Cerritos (Calif.) College six years ago, knows the depths of the problem.

But in this age of overexposure, nobody knows that track boasts the most charismatic, quotable, intelligent and attractive people in sports.

It’s difficult to believe the American star-maker machine can’t find a way to put Jon Drummond, Ato Boldon, Marieke Veltman, Marc Davis, Bob Kennedy, Anthony Washington and Antonella Bevilacqua (just to name seven) up in lights.

In Europe, they are treasured. But, hey, we’ve got Schwarzenegger.