My thoughts on the Superstars

ABC has ordered a new series of Superstars as a six-week summer primetime series for 2009. Together with Juma TV and Blue Entertainment Sports Television, the series will feature eight celebrities teamed with a professional athlete. One team will be eliminated each week. Unfortunately, this format is not truly a Superstars competition. The competition returned from 1998 to 2003, but remains a far cry from the heights it reached during the 1970's, or even the superb competition during the late 1980's. The Superstars has some major hurdles to overcome. Prize money is paltry and the amount that can be won is only a small fraction of a major sports star's income. In 1973, a player could earn enough extra money to make a difference in their way of life. Now they can't even buy a suit. Clubs are also reluctant to allow their franchise players to compete and risk injury, even though there have never been as serious injuries in The Superstars.

Jason Sehorn won three championships from 1998-200, but he has come under fire for competing in the Superstars again before he played a football game for the Giants. Additionally, the extended seasons have made for very little time for Superstars competitions to be held. The emergence of college basketball has tied up the airways for much of the late winter and early spring, the time of year in which the Superstars used to comfortably fit.

There are some ideas I can that I believe would help the Superstars fit a niche in the sports landscape as it had occupied in the 1970's.

• Give the TV contract to ABC, and also use ESPN to carry the preliminary rounds leading up to the finals. ESPN does a similar job with The World's Strongest Man.
• Establish preliminary rounds to ensure that the competition in the finals is first rate. I would suggest either three preliminary rounds with the top 3 from each plus the top 3 from last year's final; or two preliminary rounds with the top 4 from each and the top 4 from last year.
• Move the competition from Montego Bay, Jamaica to another, more suitable facility. Montego Bay has neither a track nor a swimming pool. This makes some events far below the standards that they should be. It makes the event seem less like a serious competition and more like a beach party. Sure, its important for the athletes to have fun, but it doesn't look right on television. The Wide World of Sports complex in Walt Disney World would be ideal.
• Solidify the ten events. The golf, closest to the pin must be eliminated, replaced either with a nine hole golf event or tennis. Eliminate the jet ski competition, replace that sponsorship money with another source and add bowling or perhaps a soccer test.
• Most importantly, bring back the women! Women's Superstars would be a perfect competition. We have so many female stars now and they could use the prize money. Bring the women's events in line with the men's by having a 100 yard dash and a half mile run. Today's great women athletes deserve the showcase.

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