Monmouth Crowd Larger than Belmont Crowd

[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.

[Strategic Mission]

Originally Posted by 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.

How about just being on ESPN, not ESPN news, or ESPN a day later on a replay.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Strategic Mission

How about just being on ESPN, not ESPN news, or ESPN a day later on a replay.

How many people, besides those that frequent these boards, do you think would watch if it were live on ESPN?

There was nothing of precendence being broadcast yesterday. If Espn thought they could get viewers, they would have shown the race. Unfortunately, the public at large is only really interested in the triple crown these days.

[Habersham000]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

How many people, besides those that frequent these boards, do you think would watch if it were live on ESPN?

There was nothing of precendence being broadcast yesterday. If Espn thought they could get viewers, they would have shown the race. Unfortunately, the public at large is only really interested in the triple crown these days.

During the running of the race yesterday ESPN 2 was showing women's golf...I sure hope horse racing especially with Curlin in a race gets more viewers then women's golf

[sumitas]

Originally Posted by 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.

All the stops should have been pulled out. Within reason. I can't tell you how many times I had seats for Syracuse football and they changed the kickoff time to accomodate tv.

[herkhorse]

Originally Posted by sumitas

All the stops should have been pulled out. Within reason. I can't tell you how many times I had seats for Syracuse football and they changed the kickoff time to accomodate tv.

Syracuse has a football team!?

[GBBob]

In the long run it's irrelevant, but Arlington would have pulled at least 25K if Curlin had run. I really was surprised to see that low a Belmont #..I mean...what would it have been if Curlin didn't run??

[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??