Pan American Game Over?

The venues are ready. The opening ceremony will be a thing of great beauty. The images will be beautiful. But where are the best athletes? The Pan American Games are about to open to a clear lack of interest from top sportsmen and women. The best player in the men's tournament is ranked only 126th in the world. The rowing competition has been cancelled due to lack of interest: a minimum of six countries were needed, but only four signed up.

Political shenanigans in other sports have exacerbated the issue. It's normal to run out youth teams for the Olympic Games: FIFA doesn't want the World Cup franchise to be overshadowed. Under 20 is the Pan Am norm. But in scheduling the under 20 World Cup in Canada right now, FIFA has ensured that only the region's best 17 and 18 year olds are likely to play in Rio.

Once a major feather in the cap of any athlete, the Pan Ams are now used mostly as a means to groom youngsters in the ways of multi-day, multi-sport competition. But is the event's status as training ground for Olympic hopefuls enough to ensure its future? Will viewer figures and the correlating sponsorship interest survive the absence of the "stars"?

Athletes are now clearly more keen on a proper payday than patriotic prestige: the chance to win medals for the mother country has lost its allure at everything but world championships and Olympic Games. Meanwhile, expectations of near-Olympic service levels on the part of international sports federations have made organising this event and others (think Asian Games) seriously burdensome. Huge and costly stadia are expected, as are top-notch accomodations, transport and hospitality for officials. Hopefully, the venues will be full of spectators. But just as Torino 2006 was trounced by American Idol, the TV ratings for these Games may yet have alarm bells ringing.