Games-Pan Am sport channel could be answer to Games' problems, says Lewis

SANTIAGO : Athletics great Carl Lewis, the Pan American Games' most illustrious alumnus, paid a visit to Santiago on Saturday offering his support for the troubled quadrennial event and suggesting the key to survival could be a Pan Am sports channel.

Limited to a handful of recognisable athletes, the Pan Am Games, like the Commonwealth Games, have struggled to get noticed and remain relevant in an increasingly competitive sporting landscape.

With other competitions such as world championships taking priority, the region's top athletes have been lukewarm about adding the Pan Ams to their schedules while countries are also thinking twice about hosting these second-tier multi-sport competitions.

The Commonwealth Games are desperately searching for a city to step up and take on their 2026 event after Australia's Victoria withdrew as host while Chile was awarded their first Pan Ams by default when Buenos Aires, the only other contender, pulled out.

There are close to 7,000 athletes from 41 nations competing in Santiago but in many countries the event is getting little attention, particularly in the Games' biggest market the United States.

The U.S. consistently brings one of the biggest contingents to the Games and regularly finishes at the top of the medals table yet the biggest media outlets have largely ignored the event.

Lewis, a nine-times Olympic gold medallist, compared the status of the Pan Am Games in the United State to that of athletics, which remains a niche sport even though Americans dominate at the Olympics and world championships.

"Times are different, in the United States especially," said Lewis. "We are all fighting for television, everyone's fighting for attention.

"We are in the middle of a streaming evolution