Attendance for the U.S. Olympic Track Trials in
Sacramento on Monday "soared" past 23,000 for the fourth
straight day, according to Mark Kreidler of the SACRAMENTO
BEE, who wrote the attendance numbers "are astounding, and
no one is happier about that than" USAT&F CEO Craig Masback.
Masback: "I think it's safe to say that what Sacramento has
done here has exceeded anyone's wildest expectations. It's
impossible to state strongly enough how successful this is.
... The full stadium every night of itself is a remarkable
achievement -- in any sport. No sport in any national
championship -- track, Olympics -- in any country in the
world in history has achieved what Sacramento has achieved.
I defy someone to provide contrary evidence to that. That
in itself is a benchmark and an achievement" (SACRAMENTO
BEE, 7/18). In CA, Damin Esper writes "there's no doubt the
U.S. Olympic Trials have been a huge success" in the city
and Sacramento "organizers are talking about bidding for the
2004 meet" (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 7/19).
SOLID RATINGS/GOOD COVERAGE? USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke
writes that the weekend ratings indicate that "Olympic-type
events remain popular." NBC's coverage of Saturday's and
Sunday's U.S. Olympic Trials averaged a 4.0 overnight
Nielsen rating, making it the weekend's highest and edging
out the 3.9 for "MLB on Fox" (USA TODAY, 7/19). But
ESPN.com's Jeff Hollobaugh wrote that "track gets lousy
ratings in this country (except for Olympic-related events)
not because there is anything wrong with the product, but
because TV has ineptly packaged the sport. The TV
industry's formula for success has been to dumb down the
broadcast material in order to yield greater revenues."
(ESPN.com, 7/18). But in Sacramento, Rick Kushman writes,
"While Sacramento has gone particularly mad for the Trials,
the reality is most people here, let alone in the rest of
the country, would never get a glimpse of these track
athletes and all that they are if not for the shows on TV.
So there you have it: big-time sports and television teaming
up for a good influence on society" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 7/19).
WHERE'S THE CORPORATE SUPPORT? In Raleigh, Ned Barnett:
"It seems like there's enough interest [in track] for people
to make a buck. Why are Nike, followed distantly by adidas
and a few others, the only major corporations who will
support this American sport?" (NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/19).
