A Call for Fans, Money : Track and field: Not everyone is happy with the way promoters are trying to drum up interest in indoor events.

Canada’s fastest sprinter, Bruny Surin, said he would run last weekend in the indoor track and field season’s first Grand Prix meet at Saskatoon, Canada.

Then, when he learned that Canada’s most notorious sprinter, Ben Johnson, had entered the meet, Surin said he would not run.

Johnson said Surin was afraid of him. Surin said he would need eyes in the back of his head to see Johnson when they finally meet in a 60-meter race tonight at Hamilton, Canada.

But no matter which sprinter finishes first, the winners have already emerged. They are the promoters at Saskatoon and Hamilton.

There was a standing-room-only crowd in the cozy 3,500-seat Saskatchewan Fieldhouse, even though the temperature outside was 38 degrees below zero, and ticket sales have increased dramatically this week for the meet in the 17,500-seat Copps Coliseum at Hamilton.

Who says indoor track in North America has a faint pulse?

After Johnson was charged with two false starts and disqualified at Saskatoon, many among the crowd went home without seeing the remainder of the meet. But promoter Robert Barkman was too busy counting gate receipts to notice.

“The dedicated track fans are going to come out to your meet regardless,” he said in a telephone interview this week. “But the sport needs others to buy tickets, and one way to do that is to give them a little controversy. We can’t create it, but if it’s there, we don’t have to hide it.”

Al Franken, promoter of the Feb. 20 Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena, could not agree more. One of his most successful promotions originated after Ruth Wysocki made derogatory comments about rival middle-distance runner Mary Slaney at a news conference several days before the meet in 1985. Franken quickly capitalized by sending Wysocki on a tour of local radio and television stations.

In a time of dwindling interest from television networks and sponsors, indoor track and field promoters have had to become creative to keep ticket sales high and their budgets balanced. They have done so, some critics contend, at the expense of athletes and perhaps even the sport. But economic realities, promoters counter, have left them no choice but to sell a little steak with a lot of sizzle.

An acknowledged leader in the marketing of the sport is Franken, who decided long before most of the other promoters that the easiest and often least expensive method of selling an indoor meet to the public is to focus on one or two marquee events while filling time with the rest. As a result, his meets often seem as if they have one Gladys Knight and a lot of Pips.

Last year, when pole vaulter Sergei Bubka was his headliner, Franken said he took in his largest gross income in the 33-year history of the meet, although it was held during a deluge.

This year, the Sunkist and others among the 10 North American meets on the Mobil Grand Prix circuit are promoting a three-event competition among decathletes, including world record-holder Dan O’Brien of the United States and Olympic champion Robert Zmelik of the Czech Republic, as the main event.

Long before there was a Grand Prix circuit, indoor meets had a carnival atmosphere. It was part of their charm. But they also in most cases were loaded with talent in many events, particularly in the middle-distance races. Some of the most memorable duels in the mile--Jim Ryun vs. Kip Keino, Jim Grelle vs. Jim Beatty, Lasse Viren vs. Steve Prefontaine, John Walker vs. Filbert Bayi, Eamonn Coghlan vs. Steve Scott--occurred on the boards.

Promoters depended on outstanding middle-and longer-distance events because they assumed that the sprints and hurdles races, confined to 50 and 60 yards or meters because of the short infield tracks, would not last long enough to sustain the crowd’s attention. The mile in New York’s Millrose Games became one of the sport’s most prestigious events, while promoters in Cleveland built an entire meet around their nationally televised mile.

But the sport has changed considerably in recent years. While U.S. middle-distance runners have lagged internationally, their events have been dominated by Africans and Europeans. That has left North American promoters at a disadvantage because the Africans have not always proved reliable indoors and the Europeans prefer to remain home in the winter.

With a recent financial boost from a new title sponsor, Chemical Bank, the Millrose Games have been able to put together an impressive mile field for the Feb. 5 meet at Madison Square Garden that includes No. 1-ranked Noureddine Morceli of Algeria and Olympic champion Fermin Cacho of Spain.

That event alone, however, cost the meet an estimated $60,000 in appearance fees, which is beyond the budget of other North American promoters. Franken said his most expensive event was the 60 meters in 1991, when he paid $30,000 to Ben Johnson and $10,000 to the rest of the field combined. The three-event competition featuring O’Brien and Zmelik this year comes with a price tag of about $15,000.

Because there is not as much money to spread around most North American meets, more U.S. athletes each year are choosing to spend their winters on the fast-growing European circuit. And European athletes, who might have run indoor meets in North America in the past, are staying home. Crowds for the European meets are small, but television revenue is not.

“It’s like running a meet in a television studio,” said Tom Jennings, manager of the Pacific Coast Club. “There’s not much atmosphere. But there is a lot more money than there is here. Athletes who run in Europe can make up to 300% more. Except for a few high-profile athletes, there’s nothing in the United States. Nothing.”

Another manager, who did not want to be identified, said that the only North American meets that treat his athletes with the same respect, financially and otherwise, that they receive in Europe are the Millrose Games and the Mobil 1 Invitational at Fairfax, Va.

Barkman, the Saskatoon promoter, acknowledged that he felt a tinge of guilt because there was so much attention paid to Johnson in his meet that other outstanding athletes were ignored.

“I felt bad for Jillian Richardson from Calgary,” he said. “She was fifth in the Olympic 400 meters at Barcelona, and I’m not sure anyone knew she was even here.”

The manager said: “It might be good for the promoters in the short run to hype a couple of superstars, but it’s driving a lot of athletes away.”

Ollan Cassell, USA Track & Field’s executive director, said he would, at the least, like to see the athletes make more money. He said the federation has had discussions with the Grand Prix’s title sponsor, Mobil, about increasing its investment next year so that more appearance fees and prize money will be available.

“I don’t think most of our athletes want to spend the winter in Europe, especially in a year like this one, when the world indoor championships are in Toronto,” he said. “We need to give them more incentives to stay home.”

Cassell said some promoters also will benefit from a new television package that USATF expects will be in place for the start of the 1994 indoor season.

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “We began to see improvement in fan interest last year, and I think that will continue this year. (The Olympic Games at) Barcelona generated a lot of enthusiasm for our sport, and I think that will carry over through (the 1996 Games at) Atlanta.”

Reversing a trend that in recent years has seen Grand Prix meets eliminated, including the Times Indoor Games at the Forum and the Michelob Invitational at San Diego, there are two newcomers to this year’s circuit, Sunday’s Montreal International and the Jan. 23 Commonwealth Invitational at Cambridge, Mass.

Cassell said there might be two more additions next year. Atlanta and Toronto have been mentioned as possible sites.

Franken said San Diego officials have approached him about reviving the indoor meet there, but he said he prefers to concentrate his efforts on bringing back another meet to Southern California for the increasingly anemic outdoor season. That is another story.