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Originally Posted by justindew
I don't have all the answers. What do you think? Do you think it's a lost cause? Cuz I don't. Racing has a superstar handed to it on a silver platter- A girl who is crushing the best boys in the country. The door has been opened. Walk through it.
I am a gambler, and in my opinion, horse racing is the best game in gambling. And this is in spite of the 20% takeout and rampant cheating. If it's clear to me, it can become clear to everyone. it just might take a little work.
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I think you just touched on it a bit. As any fan, especially the older fans, will remember Horse Racing once was one of the top covered sports, it had the headlines, heck way back in the day the Big 4 were Baseball, Football, Boxing and Horse Racing.
Horse Racing remained front page news right up through the 70's. The 80's you started to see the decline, The NBA started to emerge out of the shadows via Bird and Magic. Horse Racing was starting to decline in popularity.
All sports,with the exception of the NFL, wiill have its up and downs, and when a sport is on a downside, it normally will turn it's marketing attention to the kids and family's. You get kids on board at an early age you are back on the road to recovery. Kids buy merchandise,kids want to go the games, see the stars. You get the kids you get the adults.
Now since a big part of horse racing gambling, you can't market it towards Kids. Plain and simple. You can market a little bit of bringing the family to the track for picnics, see the horses and have some family activities but Gambling is still there and many parents will balk at the idea of bringing their children to the track. Especially when tracks like Saratoga, Del Mar, Keenland are the exception not the norms. Big boxy, old guys and shady characters at the Philly Park, the Suffolk Downs etc. is the norm. I love them all but Biff and Buffy of the suburbs would never bring little Timmy out there.
And what happens the faithful of horse are getting older and fan base is dwindling.
They need to market it towards the 18-30 crowd.