Monmouth Crowd Larger than Belmont Crowd

[Strategic Mission]

Belmont Attendance 8,428
Monmouth Attendance 8,751

On a day when a returning HOY raced at Belmont against two BCT winners, Monmouth Park had a larger attendance than Belmont? Does NY really think that slots at Belmont aren't necessary or that a new person should head the marketing operation?

Horse Racing is easily the most poorly marketed sport in america. ESPN News? Pathetic.

[Hickory Hill Hoff]

They keep "dropping the ball" ......

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Strategic Mission

Belmont Attendance 8,428
Monmouth Attendance 8,751

On a day when a returning HOY raced at Belmont against two BCT winners, Monmouth Park had a larger attendance than Belmont? Does NY really think that slots at Belmont aren't necessary or that a new person should head the marketing operation?

Horse Racing is easily the most poorly marketed sport in america. ESPN News? Pathetic.

And admission and parking was FREE yesterday at Belmont...

[Bigsmc]

The only way on track attendance will become relevant again would be to shut off all of the ADW's.

It's all about handle, not attendance.

[Strategic Mission]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

The only way on track attendance will become relevant again would be to shut off all of the ADW's.

It's all about handle, not attendance.

It sort of is all about handle, but I can assure you tracks like Saratoga and Del Mar make a fortune with the money people at the track spend.

Belmont is a total waste of a very attractive resource. They could turn it into an upscale casino and the place would be packed every weekend. It is close enough to the city, and located on LI where there is plenty of money.

You could have big name concerts and a casino and racing if they really wanted it.

Instead it is really only used 1 race a year, and that is only if a TC is involved.

It is basically a parking lot for car salesman. No joke.

I would imagine the Atlantic City have paid off enough NY politicians to keep it from ever being a nice venue.

[GenuineRisk]

The NYRA also does a terrible job of promoting- the only reason I found out admission was free on Saturday was because I went onto the NYRA website to check out post times. So only people planning on going anyway found out it was free.

I know Curlin was cleared to run with barely a week before the race, but I can't believe they couldn't have thrown together some cheap TV ads and run them on the local stations. I thought the same thing at last year's Belmont- they got a great male vs. female angle and couldn't get an ad together for a few days before the Belmont?

[the_fat_man]

MTH has a LIVE STREAM of their races while NYRA doesn't even offer replays or live audio. Time to catch up with the new technology. (And it's not about the OTB thing because they weren't streaming before.) It's all about CONVENIENCE. People are typically more apt to 'work' in front of their computer rather than their tv.

[Bobby Fischer]

The curlin race should have been broadcast on ESPN, Live at 8pm EST with Al Michaels, Stuart Scott, and Durkin on the mic.
There should have been prominent ads for trucks and alcohol on the jockeys, horses and safety rails. We should have been hearing the announcers wax about the versatility of Curlin, the greatness of Red Rocks, and the Broadcast should have been "commercial free" with live wagering on ESPN through the NTRA Call-a-bet/Internet wagering platform.

[Stall Mucker]

Granted, Curlin was not declared until Tuesday or so. But, there were earlier rumblings that he would race in NY barring any further legal problems.
NYRA could have been ready with a better plan. But, I can only place a little blame here.

I made the last minute trip from Saratoga with a car load of peeps who wanted to see a horse we may not get to see in-person again and they didn't like the idea of me, alone at the racetrack un-supervised.

Traffic was not all that bad considering. For us, it was a great time.

Even though Curlin did not win did not ruin the day. This was an experiment. I don't think he ran a bad race.

Attendance was 8000+. Where were more of the fans??

[dalakhani]

Monmouth has working toilets...that is good for a few thousand alone.

[Handicappy]

Originally Posted by philcski

And admission and parking was FREE yesterday at Belmont...

but few people knew that.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Handicappy

but few people knew that.

True... I didn't know till I got there.



Personally, I thought it was pretty decent attendance. My friend who only comes with me a couple times a year remarked that he thought the parking lot was very full relative to normal... We only stayed for a few races because we went to the Mets game (which I'm sure hurt attendance some as well, being a 4 pm start and there's definitely some crossover in fans)

[jpops757]

Originally Posted by Strategic Mission

Belmont Attendance 8,428
Monmouth Attendance 8,751

On a day when a returning HOY raced at Belmont against two BCT winners, Monmouth Park had a larger attendance than Belmont? Does NY really think that slots at Belmont aren't necessary or that a new person should head the marketing operation?

Horse Racing is easily the most poorly marketed sport in america. ESPN News? Pathetic.

LS with its so called minor league racing had just short of 13k in attendance. With attendance such a minor factor. Iwonder how the track has a chance in hell to florish with the severly restricted simo outlets.Im sure the State needs to do its part by legalizing account waggering, Nodoubt that SOcal ,NY, Fla,and La tracks get a lot of action from the LS simocast pavilion, Wondering how much action the various tracks get at LS.