Derby Trail Forums - The model is the World Series of Poker TV coverage

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If you are trying to attrach new, uninitiated fans, I think any reality TV show about handicapping ought to be patterned after something like "Storage Wars" on A&E. If you haven't seen it, they've made a very entertaining show about, of all things, four guys who make part of their living bidding against each other in public auctions for unpaid storage lockers. It works becauce they found four entertaining characters to focus on. The viewer develops a favorite and roots for that guy to outmanuever the others and unearth the most valuable storage locker finds. In the process, you become educated on the way things work and find yourself wanting to go to storage locker auctions.

Find a handful of entertaining handicappers and focus on their approaches to a few good races a week and combine broad, introductory handicapping analysis with some more advanced tips. Shoot the races from many different angles, Kentucky Derby-style, and cut the races to seem as exciting as possible. Quickly break down the results and winnings and name a winner for the week. People will develop a favorite and root for the guy to outpredict the others and cash the biggest tickets. In the process, people will become educated on the basics of handicapping and find themselves wanting to go to the track or opening up their own ADW account. Hopefully.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaTH716 (Post 751343)

So basically you are turning the track into a sports bar for these people? What good is it, if they are doing nothing than just focusing their time on football & baseball the entire time.

The whole idea is simply putting a series of free bets into the hands of a couple people who are FAR more likely to turn into horseplayers than your typical person.

I wouldn't even have them do a draft at the track. Find the most serious in-progress existing leauges in the area - and add a prize to it.

Basically - a selected giveaway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dean smith (Post 751345)

BINGO, right on target

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach Pants (Post 751334)

Educating the new players is a big problem. Drf, sheets, and video replays can price most people out of the market.

You would have so many hands in the pot and that would raise the takeout to a level that wouldn't keep it a competitive product.

Many sacrifices would have to be made in order for it to work. Good luck with any being made.

Very good point. I agree totally with this. As much as I love the Daily Racing Form, I believe they are costing the game future players due to their greed. They are charging WAAYY too much for their product simply because there isn't any competition. (You could argue about BRIS, etc but the DRF PP's are unique).

I buy the Formulator PP's and pay $149.99 per month for unlimited tracks. This is about 3 times what it really should cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linny (Post 751067)

One difference between racing and poker is that poker takes 3 or 4 days of thousands of players and mashes it into 2 hours of only the most suspenseful moments, racing tries to stretch it's 30 seconds of excitement out to one hour.The other is that in viewing poker on the TV, the viewer is omnicient. He knows who's holding what cards. Having that knowledge makes him feel superior to the game. Effectively, the poker viewer is redboarding every hand he sees.

Agreed. Major problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kasept (Post 750942)

Not sure if Joey heard Steve Crist on ATR Wednesday in regards to this topic... All the relevant points brought up here were featured in Crist's thoughts, including the 'what can be added to the coverage as a hook' to make the broadcast compelling. And Doug and Coach have it. The viewer needs a stake in the outcome. And as suggested, there's ways to do it.

Callers to ATR regularly wax nostalgic about the regional grocery chain horse racing TV game that had viewers watching previously run races on tape that generated prizes based on the game tickets they accrued at the market. People are STILL talking about it 40 years later! WTF? Doesn't that say everything we need to know?

There are variations on this theme -- fantasy racing as Doug & Coach allude to -- that are very viable and marketable to the sponsors needed to make this work. I was broaching this subject with Satish as well Wednesday. It needs exploration and trial. The sport has nothing to lose...

I handled this program, "Let's Go to the Races" in my regional market for the primary grocery distributor of the area. Over three hundred stores in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas participated. The races were taped from Gulfstream and the promotion ran the two months prior to the opening date of the Oaklawn meet. Not only was it a smash hit with people who had never been in the sport, we aired it on our television station the thirty minutes prior to the local newscast. It boosted our local newscast ratings considerably and fans were chompin' at the bit when Oaklawn opened.

It is eye popping that you had over 300 stores participate on the TV/Oaklawn promotion. Impressive.