Breeders Cup attendance and ratings up! Because of Zenyatta!

[Slewbopper]

Originally Posted by Kasept

I've been to every Oaks/Derby the last 10 years and have a pretty good feel for the building and how it is when full. Friday's crowd was shockingly sparse. Saturday was well attended, but the attendance numbers certainly were ticket sales figures.

As to the original point, the 60 Minutes story on Zenyatta undoubtedly drove TV viewership up, but Churchill always hosts the best attended Cups. Zenyatta wasn't as big a draw in person as she was in front of the box given the Saturday gate was basically at the average attendance of previous BC visits to the Ville:

1988: 71,237
1991: 66,204
1994: 71,671
1998: 80,452
2000: 76,043
2006: 75,132 (Avg. 73,456)
2010: 72,739

So ticket sales for Churchill's first two day BC were 114,000. I wonder if the BC lost money agin.

The final hour of the telecast was up almost 200% from last year and was the highest viewed BC since the 80s. The one time TV viewers probably did nothing for handle but at least people watched. It was because of Zenyatta and probably the 60 minutes segment. Those who do not watch 60 minutes still don't know who she is and the ratings will go back to being abysmal again next year