Track Club Denies Getting Deal for Goodwill Games

The manager of the Santa Monica Track Club denied today that he had cut a deal with TBS or The Athletics Congress for his athletes to receive extra appearance money for competing in the Goodwill Games.

“No deal has been struck,” Joe Douglas said by telephone from his Santa Monica office.

Douglas was responding to a story in today’s USA Today that said that as part of a recent treaty with TAC, the national governing body for track and field, the Santa Monica Track Club was given permission to deal directly with the Turner Broadcasting System, creator of the Goodwill Games, to supplement appearance fees already in place.

“I should have kept quiet,” Douglas said. “Nothing has happened. I gave some of my opinions. They are not realities. I opened my mouth. I shouldn’t have. I wish I had not said those things. I made an error.”

Douglas was quoted as saying, “If they want us, (TBS) has to pay. Goodwill is like any other meet. If they don’t pay us, the whole club will go to England or Italy. I hear they have a $65-million budget. With all their money, I’ll be damned if they’ll get one of my athletes for $3,000.”

Douglas did not deny making the remarks, but said they were “incorrect.”

His athletes include Carl Lewis, winner of six Olympic gold medals and the world record-holder in the 100-meter dash; Joe DeLoach, 1988 Olympic champion at 200 meters; Steve Lewis and Danny Everett, the 1-3 finishers in the Olympic 400 meters; Johnny Gray, the American record-holder at 800 meters, and Leroy Burrell, owner of the fastest time in the world this year in the 100.

“I’m not threatening to keep people in or out (of the Goodwill Games),” Douglas said. “I have not struck a deal to have my athletes get more than any others.”

American athletes will receive $3,000 for competing. They can get as much as $23,000, including $10,000 for an outdoor world record-holder and $10,000 for an Olympic gold medalist.