SUN: Racing's media makeover paying off

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I keep wondering about what sport everyone is refering to? Are we talking about the same one? You know the one where the growth is almost exclusively in account wagering?


The product is gambling. It is neither male or female friendly. The KY Derby and Oaks are not the product nor are the tv ratings for those anything but a sidebar. Horseracing does NOT derive any signifigant revenue from TV unilke other sports which derive the vast majority of their revenue from TV. What Bravo or ABC or NBC focuses on during its telecasts dont change the fact that we need people betting into the pools on days other than Derby days.

It is good news that ratings are up. However no one should think that the increase in ratings is "because of" something done right or that an increase in ratings for a singular event (Derby) translates into "we are going into the right direction with our new focus". All it means was the ratings were up for a 2 hour period one day of the year.

I agree with pretty much everything you say here. The model has to change. Is it possible that racing could one day thrive where handle is just a portion of the revenue as opposed to nearly all of it? And if it can't, we need to look into new ways to generate handle.