GOLF AND TENNIS NOTES: In Miami, after last week's PGA
Tour Seniors' Championship, Greg Cote wrote that crowd
support "was tepid at best, calling into question the future
of the event in South Florida beyond next year." He added
that TV ratings for the over-50 Tour "are stagnant or
sagging," and "sooner or later ratings and fan support will
convince advertisers to look elsewhere." The Tour "needs to
re-tool itself in a fundamental way" and Cote suggested
limiting the player fields and attracting more household
names (MIAMI HERALD, 4/20)....The state of tennis was
examined by John Barrett of the FINANCIAL TIMES who wrote
that while "at many levels tennis has made impressive
strides," the "tournament game has suffered as a spectacle
because the [Int'l Tennis Federation] failed to regulate
racket technology in the 1970s" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 4/19).
IRL: The IRL rescheduled the Las Vegas 500 from
Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, October 11, due to time
considerations. The race was to be televised on Saturday
night, running late on the east coast. It will now be
televised live Sunday on TNN at 4:00pm ET (STAR-NEWS,
4/21)....In Indianapolis, Robin Miller wrote that last
week's IRL practice rounds at the IMS "produced some big
speeds but virtually no spectators. ... [T]here could not
have been 1,000 people (total) in attendance from Tuesday
through Friday" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR-NEWS, 4/19).
