False Start Costs Meet Organizers

Time is money. Organizers of the Powerade Indoor Track and Field Championships were too short of both to pull off the first-time meet.

Their ambitions were noble: bring a dozen Sydney Olympic medalists to Staples Center on Feb. 11 to create a world-class event and revive a sport that has locally lost favor among spectators. But their ambitions exceeded their resources. And after a misunderstanding with Coca-Cola--Powerade’s parent company--left them short of cash to make payments due last Thursday to athletes and a TV production company, they pulled the plug.

Skip Stolley, meet director and chairman of the Los Angeles Track and Field Organizing Committee, called the cancellation a tragedy. A shame? Maybe. A tragedy? No. A tragedy is someone dying. Canceling a track meet because of weak financing and myopic planning is a painful lesson.

“‘It is not a fun thing, but it would have been worse to try and bluff your way into the meet,” said Rich Perelman, the meet’s director of communications. “That would have been the absolute death knell, and Skip and Damon [Haley, the marketing director] couldn’t ever have organized anything again, except a barbecue in their backyards.”

Stolley said he was baffled by confusion that arose two weeks ago over Coca-Cola’s obligations. Stolley and the LATFOC thought Coca-Cola would pay $250,000 a year for three years, with the first $250,000 due by Jan. 24; Coca-Cola read the agreement as a total of $250,000 for three years. The company proposed increasing its funding to $350,000 and making a first-year payment of $150,000, but that was $100,000 short of what Perelman called the “curtain-up figure.”

USA Track and Field put desperate LATFOC officials in touch with potential sponsors, but none would bite on such short notice. The USATF couldn’t offer direct help, either, in part because the chief sponsor of its Golden Spike tour is Sobe, a rival beverage. Craig Masback, the USATF’s chief executive officer, said if Stolley’s group had a different sponsor or no sponsor at all, the meet might have been part of the Golden Spike tour.

“That said, they did the right thing in signing what they perceived to be the right agreement for them,” Masback said.

Without cash, there were no promotions or advertisements. Without promotions or ads, only about 2,000 tickets were sold. Without money from ticket sales, organizers couldn’t pay vendors and other expenses.

Staging a major track meet is expensive. Elite athletes don’t come cheap. Televising an event-for which Marion Jones was to be flown in and provide commentary-isn’t cheap. Nor were tickets cheap, at $15, $25 and $35 for the high school meet and $25, $50 and $75 for the elite competition.

“These guys were operating pie in the sky without any foundation,” said promoter Don Franken, whose Los Angeles Invitational meet has struggled the last half-dozen of its 41 years since losing title sponsor Sunkist.. “We used to do four meets a year in the ‘70s, but the market has changed and I don’t think those guys realized it. Why charge $75 and charge the high school kids $35 and charge separate admission for each session?

“I think they just misread the market. There’s a market, but you’ve got to work at it.”

Said Scott Davis, director of Mt. SAC ‘Relays and president of the Southern California Assn. of the USATF: “I am really, really disappointed. I feel terrible for those guys because I know how hard they worked. And it certainly doesn’t do us any good . . . .

“We work very hard to commandeer funds for Mt. SAC. We thought they had done a great job landing a big fish.”

Although the big fish got away, Masback gave the LATFOC points for trying.

“I have great faith there will be elite track and field meets in Los Angeles as there have been in the past,” he said. “I draw no larger conclusions from this. This is not evidence of anything in particular.”

Stolley, who ignored advice to hold off a year because he wanted to capitalize on the Sydney Olympians’ fame, also remains a believer.

“The event was there and the whole thing was going to happen the way we said it was going to,” he said. “This thing has driven a stake through my heart, but it hasn’t changed my belief indoor and outdoor events can be successful here with the right combination of athletes, TV and sponsors. If anything, this experience has shown us all the components are here.”

Until someone proves it, though, it’s just another fish story.

HOME HILL ADVANTAGE

Daron Rahlves of Truckee, Calif., the surprise winner of the super-giant slalom last Tuesday in the world Alpine ski championships at St. Anton, Austria, credited his success to training in Austria last summer. He benefited from the Austrians’ expertise, and they were assured access to top-rated slopes in the U.S. to prepare for the Salt Lake City Olympics.

“I like all the guys on the Austrian team. I like to hang out with them,” Rahlves said, “It’s good to know that they’re not just machines-maybe close to it-but they’re human, like us.

“We try to learn from working with them. We’ll definitely want to train with them, but I think they’ll want to train with us because We’re pretty fast!”

Rahlves predicted the 13-member U.S. contingent would do well in Austria based on top-three finishes recorded this season by Sarah Schleper, Kristina Koznick, Erik Schlopy and Bode Miller.

“The Americans are not usually consistent, so there’s no pressure in the big events,” said Rahlves, who competed for four years on the World Cup circuit before he won two consecutive downhill races last season in Norway. “When there’s no pressure, it’s easy to pop one. Those who are consistent and do well all the time have a lot more pressure to cope with.

“Take Tommy [Moe]. He had no pressure ahead of the Olympics in Lillehammer. He steps it up and, boom, wins the Olympics [downhill race]. He had the ability, and with the others under pressure, he was able to win.”

If anyone should have felt pressure, it was the U.S. women. Koznick-who quit the U.S. team last year because of a dispute over her coach but still wears a U.S. uniform--and Schleper were 2-4 in a slalom last week in Germany, and versatile Caroline Lalive recently had four top-10 finishes in two days. They began impressively, with Megan Gerety missing third in the super-G by 0.07 of a second. The women’s downhill was postponed because of snow over the weekend and rescheduled for Tuesday. The slalom is scheduled for Wednesday and the giant slalom is Friday.

A BANNER YEAR

Plans are underway to hang a banner honoring U.S. figure skating champions Michelle Kwan and Timothy Goebel at HealthSouth training center in El Segundo, the de facto figure skating capital of the U.S.

Besides being the base for Kwan and Goebel, who work with Frank Carroll’s team of coaches, third-place finisher Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, fifth-place finisher Amber Corwin of Harbor City and sixth-place finisher Beatrisa Liang of Granada Hills skate there regularly.

So do many less accomplished skaters. Carroll leads a corps of coaches at a summer figure skating camp, which will run for 11 weeks this summer, and the rink runs other programs that cater to skaters starting at age 2.

HERE AND THERE

Kwan resumed practicing the triple salchow-triple loop combination jump she skipped at the U.S. nationals because of a sore back and might perform it at the Grand Prix Final, Feb. 15-18 at Tokyo. She will probably need it to defend her world title next month in Vancouver, Canada. Kwan and Goebel are working on the additional long program each needs for the Grand Prix event.

Naomi Nari Nam, the 1999 U.S. women’s figure skating runner-up, and 2000 runner-up Sasha Cohen have followed their coach, John Nicks, to the Ice Chalet in Mission Viejo. Their previous rink, Ice Chalet of Costa Mesa, closed last weekend. . . . USA Boxing’s executive director, Paul Montville, will step down to pursue other interests. . . . Rosey Fletcher of Girdwood, Alaska, reached the podium for the fourth time this season, finishing third in a parallel slalom in Munich, Germany. . . . Six berths in the preliminary round of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament will be set this weekend. Denmark, France, Latvia and Austria meet in Klagenfurt, Austria, while Norway, Germany, Ukraine and Belarus compete in Oslo. The top three from each group advance.

Only 368 days to the Salt Lake City Winter Games.