'Superstars' athletic competition really catches on in 1970s?

This had a pretty good run at it, but I'm just wondering how it could have been bigger.

The general idea was to have athletes from different sports competing in the same events.

And if you look at 'American Ninja' today and even the NFL draft combine, it seems like Superstars could have been much more popular.
 
I think the reason why Superstars died in Britain was Brian Jacks he was so good in the Gym tests and good enough all round in most other sections he was unbeatable. Then Brian Hooper took over and again was virtually unbeatable it became a contest to see who came second almost. In the US it was Brian Budd again dominating leaving the rest of the contestants to fight for 2nd. Nothing worse for a sport when only one man or team is in with a chance to win.

In 1980 on BBC1 at peak times it was the most popular sports programme in Britain by a large margin, by 1984 it was on BBC2 in a poor slot and losing viewers fast.
 
I'm an American and a pretty big sports fan, and the funny thing is, I don't know who Brian Budd is!

Maybe if they had an amateur category where you could win $20,000. Not enough to set you for life, but still a pretty good chunk of change. And the top one or two amateurs could go on to complete with the pros.

'American Ninja' has really talented athletes who have such jobs as local station weather man, employee in restaurant, personal trainer, etc.
 
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