The Department of Tourism has pulled the plug on ESPN's coverage of this year's International Race Weekend.

But no one, it appears, bothered to tell the company which has produced the event for the the US cable sports giant for the past three years.

Marty Liquori, the popular American miler who has become an Island fixture by hosting the annual telecast, said yesterday a crew would instead be shooting the San Diego Half-Marathon this weekend after he gave up waiting for confirmation from Bermuda tourism officials.

"We'd much rather be covering the Front Street Mile,'' said Liquori, who now heads ML Productions. "It's the best thing we do in the Caribbean area but unfortunately they couldn't get it together.'' As late as yesterday Liquori, whose firm has arrangements to cover other running events in Barbados, Bahamas and Jamaica throughout the year, was asking a Royal Gazette reporter if the event would be telecast again this year.

Liquori said he met with Tourism officials at the New York City Marathon in October and "thought everything was fine.'' However, subsequent phone calls from his office went unreturned and he was forced to find alternate programming, Liquori said.

"It wasn't our decision not to cover it,'' he said.

That was confirmed by Tourism's Wayne Smith, who said Government decided last month "not to participate'' in this year's broadcast.

Unlike high profile sporting events such as the Super Bowl, in which networks spend millions for the broadcast rights, production companies such as Liquori's are sponsored by groups or, in this case, tourism boards, in exchange for the exposure provided when the finished product goes on the air.

Smith said it cost Tourism over $15,000 last year to bring in Liquori and a film crew, and after weighing the benefits -- a half-four special plus assorted small filler spots -- it was decided to skip the broadcast for at least this year.

"Our research indicated the ratings (for International Race Weekend) were low and the time slots (provided by ESPN) were not good,'' he said.

Smith added the decision was consistent with Tourism's policy of trying to get the most mileage out of every advertising dollar they spend.

"The Department of Tourism wants to do things that contribute to the event and enhance the number of visitors to Bermuda,'' he said.

"They say 50 percent of every advertising dollar is wasted. Well, we're trying to find the 50 percent that is wasted in this case.'' Tourism used displays at trade shows and advertisements in running magazines in an attempt to lure visitors to the Island for this year's event, expected to draw a record 1,500 entrants.

Smith said the decision was no slight against Liquori -- "I thought it was a nice programme'' -- and indicated that Tourism may bring him back for next year's International Race Weekend.

That's of little consequence for Liquori, who even as late as yesterday afternoon said he was willing to scrap the San Diego event and grab a crew for the flight to Bermuda if invited.

"I can't blame them ... they're Tourism and maybe they thought they'd try something else,'' said Liquori. "But the thing that gets me is that they didn't even bother to return phone calls.'' He said his office left at least four messages with Tourism, the latest two weeks ago.

TOURISM TOU TELEVISION TV