Not to say that any of the other contests were necessarily frivolous, but one event that was played very seriously was the 3-on-3 football competition. Join us, won’t you, for the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the political incorrectness of the era, and some gratuitous swimsuit shots…. Another might be that this was a time when episodic television didn't have million-dollar salaries, and Battle offered some nice prize money: Each member of the winning team on the debut episode collected $20,000 (the Pittsburgh Steelers only earned $15,000 each for winning the Super Bowl that year).
But why would a TV star participate in such a spectacle, risking injury and mussed hair during their hiatus? One answer might be that they embraced the human drama of athletic competition. The first installment aired in 1976 and garnered enough of a following that the series continued until 1985.Īs the stars of Welcome Back, Kotter, CHiPs, Happy Days and other hits of the day fought it out in relay races, the obstacle course, the dunk tank, and Simon Says, veteran sportscaster Howard Cosell provided color commentary with the gravity usually reserved for an Ali-Frazier prize fight. Inspired somewhat by ABC’s popular Wide World of Sports Superstars-an annual competition of professional athletes competing in a series of 10 different events unrelated to their own sport-the network set up a bi-annual “sporting” competition between various actors from series on the three major networks. Television viewers of the late 1970s who craved a combination of amateur athletics plus celebrity skin (mixed together with more cheese than a Wisconsin souvenir shop) had to look no further than Battle of the Network Stars.
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