Netters:
While erevyone on TV is falling all over themselves in praise of
Roone Arledge, it might be well to relate this story:
At the Los Angeles Olympics, on closing night, there was a big party
for the officials who worked the meet, as well as the VIPs. It took place
while the closing ceremonies were going on.
A friend of mine, who officiated track for more than 60 years, told
me that, during the party, Arledge came in to speak to games director Peter
Uebberoth. He told him that the ceremony was :running over: because, as had
by that time become customary, the athletes had taken over the field and
were having their own celebration. Arldege said that he was "losing" his
East Coast audience because of the latening hour. As a result, about a third
of the cememony---which of course, the people in the stands had paid good
(and, in some cases, huge) money to attend---was cancelled.
Arledge was aklso responsible, in a way, for the down-sizing of
track and field's position as indisputably the center of every Olympic
Games/
At Munich, there was a whole week of competition in other sports
before the track program began. For the first time, ABC had paid a huge sum
to televise the games and even more, perhaps, to staff it, installing its
own cameras (while the rest of the world was using the central feed). So
something had to be done to keep the ratings high.
Arledge decided to center on women's gymnastics, until then a rather
obscure sport which gained little or no press attention in the United
States. But, as the ABC carneras concentrated on Olga Korbut, the press guys
in Munich began to get messages from editors at home, asking why they
weren't covering the sport. Thus began the insanity which continued through
Montreal and Los Angeles and to today. And track and field, though still No.
1 for those attending the Games, faded into the background on the
all-important tube. Other sports also moved front and center---can we ever
forget that, while Carl Lewis was winning his 4th gold medal at Los Angeles,
Americans were watching, live, the almost meaningles preliminary trials in
men's diving.
Ed Grant
