Breeders Cup attendance and ratings up! Because of Zenyatta!

[ddthetide]

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

we can atest to the 60 Minute piece helping. we had several neighbors contact us about the saturday schedule. most of them watched most of the day not just Z's race.

[slotdirt]

Wait, so this was the least attended BC at the Downs since 1994?

[Thunder Gulch]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Wait, so this was the least attended BC at the Downs since 1994?

And on a very nice- though chilly- day. I wasn't there in 2006, but if I recall 1998 and 2000 were cloudy and cold.

[slotdirt]

'06 was freaking freezing. I was there for almost a week, and recall seeing frost on the ground virtually every morning.