Editing Roone Arledge (section)

===ABC Sports===
[[File:Roone Arledge 1968.jpg|thumb|Arledge in 1968]]
Despite the production values he brought to NCAA college football, Scherick wanted low-budget (as in inexpensive broadcasting rights) sports programming that could attract and retain an audience.  He hit upon the idea of broadcasting track and field events sponsored by the [[Amateur Athletic Union]].  While Americans were not exactly fans of track and field events, Scherick figured Americans understood games.

So in January 1961, Scherick called Arledge into his office and asked him to attend the annual AAU board of governors meeting.  While he was shaking hands, Scherick said, if the mood seemed right, might he cut a deal to broadcast AAU events on ABC?  It seemed a tall assignment, but as Scherick said years later, "Roone was a gentile and I was not."  Arledge came back with a deal for ABC to broadcast all AAU events for $50,000 a year.

Next, Scherick and Arledge divided up their NCAA college football sponsor list.  They then telephoned their sponsors and said in so many words, "Advertise on our new sports show coming up in April, or forget about buying commercials on NCAA college football this fall."  The two persuaded enough sponsors to advertise, though it took them to the last day of a deadline imposed by ABC programming to do it.

''[[Wide World of Sports (US TV series)|Wide World of Sports]]'' suited Scherick's plans exactly.  By exploiting the speed of jet transportation and flexibility of videotape, Scherick was able to undercut NBC and CBS's advantages in broadcasting live sporting events.  In that era, with communications nowhere near as universal as they are today, ABC was able to safely record events on videotape for later broadcast without worrying about an audience finding out the results.

Arledge, his colleague [[Chuck Howard]], and [[Jim McKay]] (who left CBS for this opportunity) made up the show on a week-by-week basis the first year it was broadcast.  Arledge had a genius for the dramatic storyline that unfolded in the course of a game or event.  McKay's honest curiosity and reporter's bluntness gave the show an emotional appeal that attracted viewers who might not otherwise watch a sporting event.

But more importantly from Arledge's perspective, ''Wide World of Sports'' allowed him to demonstrate his ability as an administrator as well as producer.  Arledge did not gain a formal title as president of ABC Sports until 1968, even though Scherick left his position to assume a position of vice president for programming at ABC in 1964.

Arledge personally produced all ten ABC Olympic broadcasts, created the primetime ''[[Monday Night Football]]'',{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} and is said to have coined ABC's famous "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" tagline{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} — although ABC insiders of that era attribute the authorship to legendary sports broadcaster [[Jim McKay]]. He also presided as producer over the 1975 flop, ''Saturday Night Live with [[Howard Cosell]]'', which director [[Don Mischer]] blamed on Arledge's inexperience with the variety show genre and indifference to the work required.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gunther|first=Marc|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18069619|title=Monday Night Mayhem: The Inside Story of ABC's Monday Night Football|date=1988|publisher=Beech Tree Books|others=Bill Carter|isbn=0-688-07553-3|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=184–190|oclc=18069619}}</ref>