University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 16, 1992 5 Relays loses traditional luster as attendance dwindles Continued from Page 1 file photo / KANSAN Although athletes continue to compete in the Kansas Relays, crowds continue to wane in numbers. Above, a runner heads into a turn during last year's Relays, which raised only $12,657 in ticket sales. people saw former Kansas track star and world-record miler Jim Ryun run in Memorial Stadium for the last time in 1972, crowds at the Relays have dwindled. CHANGING TIMES From 1974 to 1979, attendance at the Relays did not exceed 8,000, and crowds have been close to that figure ever since. But what was it that sparked great fan interest in past Relays, and where has that interest gone? "When we had the biggest crowds is when we had the strongest Kansas track teams," Frederick said. "It was the Kansas performers that were the attraction for people." Bob Timmons, who led the Kansas track program from 1966 to 1988, coached those strong teams and performers, including Ryan. In his first 10 years at the helm, he directed Kansas to 17 championships in 29 Big Eight Conference meets as the Jayhawks gained national fame in track and field. But by the time Timmons stepped down as coach, the Kansas men's team had not won a conference indoor or outdoor title for six years. In fact, Kansas had two last place finishes under Timmons, at the conference outdoors in 1984 and the conference outdoors in 1986. Last year's Kansas men's team, under the direction of third-year coach Gary Schwartz, finished fifth in the indoor and outdoor conference meets, and the women's team finished fifth and sixth, respectively. "The Kansas track program went downhill for the last five years I was coaching." Timmons said. "It not Gary Schwartz's fault. When our team went downhill in the standpoint of quality, that was my responsibility." Timmons said that a lack of recruiting was one of the reasons the program faltered. Some have suggested that Timmons' refusal to recruit foreign athletes, which made a heavy impact in college track beginning in the late 1970s, hurt the program. Timmons does not shy away from that notion. "It was our intent not to recruit foreign athletes," Timmons said. "I'm a flag-waver. I want to see American athletes on the podium in the Olympic Games." Schwartz agreed that the decline of Kansas track was one of the reasons the Relays had faltered but said that the sport in general was suffering a decline in attention from the public. "I don't think that if we turned the team around that people would flock into the stands," Schwartz said. "There are just more things to be into now than track and field." Swartzt said the fact that professional track and field failed a few years ago and that several famous indoor meets, such as the Milrose Games in New York City, were on shaky ground was testament to the public's lack of interest in the sport. Timmons said that when he first took his team to UCLA for a dual meet in the late 1960s, 10,000 people attended the event. When he last took the team to UCLA for a triangular meet in 1986, he counted 300 people in the stands. "It's not just the Kansas Relays," Timmons said. "The entire sport of track and field is experiencing a lot of difficulty from the standpoint of having spectators." Schwartz, who is the president of the NCAA's Track and Field Coaches Commission, said publicizing track and field was a problem. "A lot of energy has been given to what we as coaches can do to help promote our sport," he said. "We haven't come up with the answer yet." Schwartz suggested the proliferation of television sports might have something to do with the decline in attendance, but Frederick said that an increase in attendance at football and basketball games did not support that notion. Instead, Frederick cited the length of time it takes to complete a college track meet, a problem that has been exacerbated by an increase in total events in a meet. "A as a casual observer, the increase of the number of events in track makes it a long day when you can sit down and watch a college basketball game in an hour and 45 minutes," Frederick said. "There are so many events on going it looks like a Chinese fire drill, and at the end people will say. 'The hell happened?' he said. "There's also a problem in our sport that meets go too long. Quite frankly, sometimes I get bored." Schwartz also said the Relays may have too many events, but that several events are necessary to attract more teams to the Relays. "But right now, what we've done to bring people in is to offer a menu of individual events and relays," Schwartz said. "In order to do that, we have to have a full schedule." ATTRACTING ATHLETES Not only is getting crowds to attend the Relays a problem, but getting athletes to attend has become increasingly difficult as well. Getting teams to come to the Relays became a problem in the mid-70s, Timmons said, when college track budgets decreased across the nation. of teams couldn't afford to travel up here," Timmons said, adding that Kansas' budget was too small to offer large amounts of money to schools to help pay for traveling expenses. "Teams in the South started to meet on that weekend because they couldn't afford to come to the Relays," Timmons said. "That took a lot of luster out of the college division of the Relays." "Because of decreasing budgets, a lot In addition, Schwartz said that the availability of better facilities throughout college track hurt the Relays. "Now there are so many good facilities and so many good meets scheduled at the same time as the Relays," he said. "The Kansas Relays used to be the only game in town. That was the reason teams from Louisiana and Texas traveled up here to compete in shaky weather at best." cooperated with the Relays, and again this year, showers and thunderstorms plagued the opening day of the event. "We had 20 years that we had rain sometime during the four-day period of the drought." The prospect of poor weather hurts advance ticket sales. Memorial Stadium seats 51,500, and if people want to come to the event, they just wait to find out what the weather will be like, Timmons said. "We have way too many seats for a track meet," he said. Frederick said the situation at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, which, unlike the Kansas Relays, has continued to be one of the most recognized meets in the nation, was more ideal from a money-making standpoint. "Drake Stadium seats just 18,000. Therefore, to be guaranteed a chance to see the meet, people must buy tickets in advance. Frederick said." "At Drake, they have to buy their tick- athead of time," he said. "If it rains, the money is already in the till." Steve Gearhart, ticket manager at Drake University, said advance ticket sales were brisk again this year for the heat, which is being held next weekend. "We're selling them right and left," he said. in contrast, Sherry Benda of the Kansas ticket office said advance ticket sales for the Kansas Relays were steady but not overwhelming. FACING THE FUTURE The weather has historically never While the reasons the Relays has grown into a seemingly lackluster event are many, solutions to restoring its fan appeal are not as plentiful. One suggestion has been to bring the top names in track and field back to the Relays. "I suppose if there could have been more Jim Ryuns, the Relays would have been OK," Timmons said. "But you have to realize, (Ryun) wasn't just a good athlete. He was a superstar." Thus, Schwartz said that when he became coach at Kansas he decided to try to focus the budget on bringing top "To try to get a Carl Lewis in here would probably take up the entire budget," he said. Schwartz said during those superstars at the Relyas was tougher that it sounded. college and high school athletes to the Relays instead of spending the entire budget on a few stars. "It was my choice to spend the money on a few stars or take the money and give it to teams and make it a very good collegiate meet," he said, adding that he did not think anyone would forego Saturday yardwork to see a handful of great athletes. "If they're really into the sport, they'll come because it's a hell of a meet," he said. "We would buy a lot of people here to watch Carl Lewis, but not sure where." He also said spending large sums of money on stars would not be a wise fiscal decision. Frederick said he agreed with Schwartz's decision not to spend the bulk of the budget on star athletes, adding that no more strain could be put on the athletic budget in general. "It it would ensure 80,000 people in the stands, yes," Frederick said of increasing the Relays budget. "Otherwise, it would be a drain on an already exhausted budget." One alternative to the present Relays would be to turn them into a first-class high school event, Frederick said. The original Relays grew out of a statewide high school track meet started in 1904 by Chancellor Frank Strong. "That's certainly one of the avenues we need to explore," he said. "It is the only time that Kansas athletes have the opportunity to compete across classes, where a runner from a 2A school in western Kansas can compete against a runner from a 6A school." National sponsorship is another alternative to bringing in additional revenue, but Nike, Adidas and the Miller Brewing Co. have all sponsored the Relays in the past, and attendance and revenue did not increase. But even without great crowds, Schwartz is convinced the meet is still a top-quality event. "I think the Relays as it is run now is a tremendous experience for the athletes and coaches who come here," he said. "I think it's an excellent meet." But he also realizes the meet cannot continue to lose money. "I'm a real traditionalist," he said. "I don't want to be the coach that was in the job when the Kansas Relays ceased to function." 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