NTRA (or whomever)

justindew · #1 09-05-2009, 06:11 PM

Dear NTRA or whomever is responsible for market this sport,

I know horse racing has to compete for column inches with the opening of college football season and it's marquee match-ups like Navy-Ohio State and Syracuse-Minnesota, but if Rachel Alexandra does not appear on the front of every sports section in America tomorrow, you should hang it up and stop accepting money from the racetracks and whomever else funds you. On Friday I asked 22 of my male, sports-loving coworkers if any of them knew who Rachel Alexandra was. Four of them thought she was the new girl who works in accounting (who's name actually IS Rachel). Two of them thought she won the Kentucky Derby. No one else had a clue who she was. And I blame you, NTRA.

Thanks,

Justin Dew

P.S.

You are a total f***ing joke.

fpsoxfan · #2 09-05-2009, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justindew

Dear NTRA or whomever is responsible for market this sport,

I know horse racing has to compete for column inches with the opening of college football season and it's marquee match-ups like Navy-Ohio State and Syracuse-Minnesota, but if Rachel Alexandra does not appear on the front of every sports section in America tomorrow, you should hang it up and stop accepting money from the racetracks and whomever else funds you. On Friday I asked 22 of my male, sports-loving coworkers if any of them knew who Rachel Alexandra was. Four of them thought she was the new girl who works in accounting (who's name actually IS Rachel). Two of them thought she won the Kentucky Derby. No one else had a clue who she was. And I blame you, NTRA.

Thanks,

Justin Dew

P.S.

You are a total f***ing joke.

I like it Justin!

Scurlogue Champ · #3 09-05-2009, 06:18 PM

The NTRA can't help it, man.

Racing is about like boxing to most Americans.

It just isn't something most people care about.

Fans of racing wondering why everyone doesn't love it are beginning to sound like people who loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer and thought it meant much more than cheap entertainment.

justindew · #4 09-05-2009, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scurlogue Champ

The NTRA can't help it, man.

Racing is about like boxing to most Americans.

It just isn't something most people care about.

Fans of racing wondering why everyone doesn't love it are beginning to sound like people who loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer and thought it meant much more than cheap entertainment.

Ashley,

When Mike Tyson was king, people loved Boxing.

I don't wonder why people don't love racing. I know exactly why. It's becasue the people in charge are morons. Maybe not all of them. But most of them.

Scurlogue Champ · #5 09-05-2009, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justindew

Ashley,

When Mike Tyson was king, people loved Boxing.

I don't wonder why people don't love racing. I know exactly why. It's becasue the people in charge are morons. Maybe not all of them. But most of them.

Why do you think people don't follow racing? And what could the morons in charge do to sway their opinion?

Did you catch Sea The Stars running in Ireland today? That was pretty exciting stuff.

justindew · #6 09-05-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scurlogue Champ

Why do you think people don't follow racing? And what could the morons in charge do to sway their opinion?

Did you catch Sea The Stars running in Ireland today? That was pretty exciting stuff.

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.

tector · #7 09-05-2009, 08:05 PM

It's the first Saturday of the college football season.

If Jesus Christ returned at Saratoga today, and rode the late double, it would not make page 1 of the sports section.

PS: People still read newspapers?

PPS: I do agree NTRA is a joke, however.

boswd · #8 09-05-2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

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.

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.

King Glorious · #9 09-18-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

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.

The door may be opened but guess what? Rachel won't race probably for another five months minimum. Talk about a momentum killer. The NBA schedule is out. I can make plans for what games I might want to travel to see and know with reasonable assurity that the marquee players I'm going to see will be playing. I've already put in to have Christmas off so I can watch Lebron and Shaq vs. Kobe. Can you do that with racing? Jackson won't even tell the public until a week beforehand where Rachel is going to be racing. How can you market that properly? All of the marketing and hyping of the top 3yos that took place in the winter leading to the Derby and where are all of those horses? In basketball, you get to see your team play 3-4 times a week. In football, it's every weekend and you know ahead of time when and where they'll be. In racing, if we get to see them once a month, we are doing well. And good luck figuring out when and where that once a month will be.