Athletic Department gears up for 1997 Penn Relays

Nike and the Athletic Department built a "Carnival Village" for the historic event, which runs Thursday to Sunday. Nike and the Athletic Department have turned the Lott Tennis Courts next to Franklin Field into a "Carnival Village" as part of this year's Penn Relays. The historic track and field meet, which runs Thursday through Sunday, features Olympic gold medal champions, NCAA champions and possibly Penn Relays stalwart Bill Cosby -- next month's Commencement speaker. Although this week's Almanac pictures Cosby sprinting at Franklin Field and says Cosby is "here this week for the Relays," Penn Relays Director Dave Johnson said any possible appearance has not been confirmed. "You never know [if he's coming] until he shows up," Johnson said, adding that in recent years Cosby just "watches and officiates a little." Regardless, this year's Relays features several innovations, such as live television coverage broadcast on CBS (Saturday, 2-4 p.m.) and a Nike-sponsored "interactive track test" for kids. Located on two tennis courts next to the stadium, the test features a mini-high jump, shot put and long jump. "We're really trying to get kids psyched about Penn Relays," Marketing and Event Coordinator Katrina Dowidchuk said. The Athletic Department faces immense logistical challenges in putting together the Relays, which keep getting larger every year. This week 814 high school teams and 272 college teams will compete, as opposed to 780 high school teams and 252 college teams last year. Johnson's office must help coordinate the competitors' food, hotel accommodations and busing -- not to mention the athletic events. Planning for each year's Relays begins 13 months in advance -- one month before the previous year's Relays, Johnson said, adding that after April, any proposed changes are incorporated into the following year's Relays. "You get to the month of April and you say, 'We can't make that change [to the Relays] this year'," Johnson said. "In that sense, planning goes on 13 months out of a year." Johnson said the Relays cannot grow infinitely because if events get bunched together, officials would not have enough time to rest. "There's a big problem with stretching the schedule too far," he said. And planning the Relays is different than planning a non-sporting event like August's U2 concert -- which the Athletic Department will also coordinate. "In some ways U2 is far more complex," Johnson said. "With U2, you have to rearrange all types of things in the building." "Penn Relays has been going on 100 years," he added, "so we keep improvising, keep modifying, one year to the next." Johnson has been director of Penn Relays since January 1996, when his predecessor, Timothy Baker, resigned voicing concerns that the Relays had become too profit-oriented. Although Baker estimated that Relay profit rose from $445 in 1987 to $96,982 in 1993, Johnson said any hard figures are dubious. "It depends on how you want to look at the books," he said, adding that his office did not have to pay for recent, multi-million dollar improvements to Franklin Field and its track. "It comes down to how you compute the profit margin," Johnson said. Preliminary Relays events took place last Sunday and yesterday, and continue today.