Racehorse owners key
Racehorse owners are the only ones in racing with the commercial rights to establish and operate a major league. If the racehorse owners form a major league and establish a national schedule for the highest level of the sport, how would they change the current system? Here’s one way:
Once a structure is established, the league’s representatives could meet with the tracks and work out a schedule and how they will partner on revenue for the coming years. Included would be a completed contract to present to the state racing commissions for approval. The Breeders’ Cup already has established this protocol.We currently have more than 55,000 races each year. A major league might initially involve only 500 races, just about the same number as graded stakes. The rest of racing would continue to be conducted as is. We could then have 48 weekends of major league racing (none on Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup weekends).Based upon Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown race-day handles, we could project an average handle of $100-million per weekend day, with revenue to the major league being 10% of that handle. The average major league weekend would thus gross $10-million for purses and operations.If the league can then use traditional major league revenue sources and achieve a level of success similar to the smallest one, the NHL, we could add another $2.6-billion. Combined with the revenue from handle, this would deliver revenue of more than $3-billion. After operational costs, an average purse for the 500 races could be as much as ¬$5-million, providing a $45-million race day.That is a pretty good incentive to own a racehorse, to own stallions and broodmares, and to get involved in racing. These are not crazy numbers for a major league.Just like the other major leagues, the high purses would attract and lead to acquisitions of the best horses from around the world to add further to the quality of the racing product. That would lead to an expanded international revenue stream.
Unfortunately, "racehorse owners" are fiercely competitive on a very personal level. Therefore, while this is great in theory, it will never happen.
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