The World of Sport in 1984
Since the cancelation of the 1984 Winter Olympics, sporting governing bodies around the world began to makes plans in case the situation deteriorates further.
Monday January 30, 1984 -- The Football Association, after discussions with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, and representatives of MI5 and MI6, came to a policy that the FA schedule would postponed in the event that 10 Downing Street initiates the full range of Emergency Powers. If Government is devolved to regional commissioners, all play will stop.
The German Bundesliga also followed the lead of the FA.
In response, the Union of European Football Associations announced that all European Cup and UEFA Cup matches will be postponed and rescheduled at this time, due to the high possibility of teams having to travel across the Iron Curtain.
Wednesday February 1, 1984 -- Incoming NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the NBA schedule will continue day-to-day, after direct consultation with President Reagan.
Thursday February 2, 1984 -- The U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made their policy public. They would leave regular season competitive decisions up to their member conferences. Winter season NCAA Championships will be contested as scheduled for the time being.
Friday February 3, 1984 -- National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) President Bill France, in a press conference at Daytona International Speedway, Florida confirmed that the February 19th running of the Daytona 500 is still in. Like the NBA and the NHL, NASCAR will make decisions as situations warrant them. Most teams are already in Daytona preparing for Daytona Speedweeks, 1984.
So the game played on through the first weekend of February. But one day after Sarajevo '84 was supposed to have their Opening Ceremonies, the world of sport changed drastically.
The February 9th incident between Soviet Spetsnaz agents and West German GSG-9, and the February 10th bombings at Munich Airport, scuttled much of the European Sporting Calendar.
Saturday February 11, 1984 -- UEFA orders postponement for all European leagues. The "Big Four" leagues (FA First Division, Serie A, Primera, Bundesliga) called for the total continent-wide ban.
Federation Internationale du Automobile (FIA) announced that calendars for all championships, including Formula 1, World Rally Championship and World Endurance Championship will be "provisionally postponed". The Rally of Sweden, was started Friday February 10 will continue as scheduled.
Major League Baseball maintained their position that they will consult with the individual clubs. Most teams are preparing to open spring training camps on Wednesday February 15 in Florida and Arizona.
Sunday February 12, 1984 -- NASCAR racing began at Daytona with the exhibition 50-mile 20-lap Busch Clash. Neil Bonnett won the all-star event, composed of pole position and race winners from the previous season.
Swedes Stig Bloomquist and co-driver Bjorn Cederberg led an Audi Quattro sweep of the podium at the FIA Rally of Sweden. France's Michele Mouton with Italian co-driver Fabrizia Pons was second. Swede Per Eklund with British co-driver Dave Whitlock was third. There are rumors that Audi and Lancia rally vehicles have been seen on the roads of Western and Southern France in the weeks since the attack, doing reconnaissance of the roads to aid post-attack recovery efforts.
The American Big 8 collegiate athletic conference announced that all competition would be postponed after February 12th, in anticipation of order school closings in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado over the next 5 days.
Monday February 13, 1984 -- The states of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado order the closings of the schools, colleges, and universities, effective February 14th in Nebraska and Kansas, 15th in Oklahoma and 16th in Colorado. College conferences that have member schools in those states all voted to suspend competitive scheduled until further notice.
Tuesday February 14, 1984 -- Following the lead of the Big 8 Conference. The Big 10, and Pac 10, all voted to suspend play after games scheduled on Friday February 17, 1984
Wednesday 15, 1984 -- With the Soviet Union's announcement of an ultimatum to the NATO alliance. Major League Baseball ordered all teams to postpone spring training pending a resolution of the crisis. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said the plans are in the works for a rescheduling of the season to play a full 162-game season, but there are also contingency plans for a 144-game slate or even a 120-game slate if necessary.
Thursday February 16, 1984 -- Twin 125-mile qualifying races at Daytona are run in front of the largest crowd in history of the qualifying races which rivaled a Daytona 500 race crowd. Prior to the races there was a massive anti-Soviet demonstration outside of the Speedway in protest to the Soviet ultimatum to NATO.
"Today by racing, were going to send them Russians a message that they can kiss our American asses." -- NASCAR team owner Junior Johnson.
Friday February 17, 1984 -- The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League suspends all games scheduled from February 18 forward until further notice, due to the outbreak of War and the high possibility of a nuclear attack. The SEC and Big East conferences say they each hosting school decided to at least play their weekend slate of games and postpone the schedule from February 20th forward.
In a meeting Friday night, NASCAR's teams voted to postponed the Goody's 300 and the Daytona 500. Most of the Winston Cup teams stayed in Daytona and helped with Emergency Management Services. There are rumors that many of these groups of teams have survived the initial exchange and set up a refugee center in the Flagler Beach, Florida area.
February 19, 1984 The last known day of sports competition in the United States.
February 21, 1984 Global nuclear exchange between the forces of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics commence.
