West & WSJ in separate treatments re: racing's target audience

[OldDog]

I thought this part of West's article hit the nail:

Boomers remember when horse racing had a place on the front page of the sports section and can recall many of the great horses of the last century. When they talk about Secretariat, they're not talking about the movie, but about a glorious moment in sports history. Moreover, the Boomers are retiring. Perhaps introduced to racing years ago, when they had neither the time nor the money to become serious fans, they now have both. Why doesn't horse racing focus its efforts on attracting the Boomers?

At most major sporting events (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL), the largest cohort in attendance is the over-50 group, according to an article in Sports Business Daily. More than 43 percent of the fans at a typical Major League Baseball game, for example, are over 50. And for good reason: They can afford the tickets. But why does everybody in racing go around wringing his hands when the McKinsey Study says the typical horse racing ran is 51?

Exactly.

[skippy3481]

It's a very fine line. The example using other sports is bad one. The average age of attendance at sporting events may be high but that doesn't stop the younger generations from buying jerseys, playing licensed games, and playing fantasy sports. People are still involved... they just don't have the ability, capital or simple desire to see games live.

Horse racing on the other hand will have a problem in 25 years. I'm one of the younger members of derby trail and i have zero friends in my age group that actively follow horse racing. Sure they may tag along for a derby, breeders cup, or a week-end night at a local track... but they really don't care. I've grown up in an era where horse racing gets bumped off of espn for little league baseball.

If horse racing wants to survive after the boomers die, they will need to re-brand the sport. I have zero idea's on what this would entail though. When poker is legal again...and it will be soon.... you'll see a nice drop off from handles.It's built for my generation. You can play multiple tables and get constant action....

Just my two cents for what they are worth

[pweizer]

25 years ago, people said that racing would have a problem now. That song never changes.

Paul

[jms62]

Originally Posted by pweizer

25 years ago, people said that racing would have a problem now. That song never changes.

Paul

Were they wrong?

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by jms62

Were they wrong?

About the age demographic of the player/fan base? Yes.. The 'problems' the game faces are not based around how the age of participants. Yet decade after decade it's the first admonishment regarding the sports' future.

[joeydb]

I'll bet the same thing could have been said of poker before the World Series of Poker was televised and exploded.

In fact, Texas Hold 'Em was not a well known variant of poker outside of Texas and Nevada 20 or 30 years ago.

We need a televised tournament, edited the same way that the format of WSOP was a couple of years ago - setup of strategy, highlights of big scores, odds changes, shots of celebratory and disappointed players. The leaderboard. In my humble opinion there are similarities that can be drawn.

And another key ingredient of the WSOP Main Event fields: distinctive and colorful personalities. Horse racing has had those in abundence forever.

[richard]

A televised world series of handicapping sounds like a good idea. Maybe around the Breeders Cup next year.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by joeydb

We need a televised tournament, edited the same way that the format of WSOP was a couple of years ago - setup of strategy, highlights of big scores, odds changes, shots of celebratory and disappointed players. The leaderboard. In my humble opinion there are similarities that can be drawn.

And another key ingredient of the WSOP Main Event fields: distinctive and colorful personalities. Horse racing has had those in abundence forever.

I just don't see how it could be made dramatically interesting to watch. Not because handicapping isn't interesting, but because it's internal (most of it happens in the head). Even with poker, in the televised games I've seen, they have a camera so that the audience gets an omniscient view of the game- they see the cards the other players don't, which heightens the viewing interest, because the game just isn't exciting enough without that extra knowledge. Plus, the action actually happens during the game itself- the players change strategy, betting tactics, etc., depending on how the game is unfolding. In handicapping, it's all done before the race starts. Plus, poker players are facing their opponents throughout a single game, while handicappers are staring at a screen for two minutes several times over the course of a contest.

If someone can figure out how to make the actual analyzing the past performances dramatically interesting, as in, the audience is chewing their nails with anxiety over which horse the player is going to select, they'll have a, well if not a million dollar idea, at least a hundred thousand dollar idea. I just can't figure out how the process of handicapping could be presented as exciting to watch, and compelling in its immediacy. Because good TV is all about conflict and excitement in that moment. Not saying it's impossible, but I can't figure out how it could be done.

[pmayjr]

Originally Posted by skippy3481

It's a very fine line. The example using other sports is bad one. The average age of attendance at sporting events may be high but that doesn't stop the younger generations from buying jerseys, playing licensed games, and playing fantasy sports. People are still involved... they just don't have the ability, capital or simple desire to see games live.

Horse racing on the other hand will have a problem in 25 years. I'm one of the younger members of derby trail and i have zero friends in my age group that actively follow horse racing. Sure they may tag along for a derby, breeders cup, or a week-end night at a local track... but they really don't care. I've grown up in an era where horse racing gets bumped off of espn for little league baseball.

If horse racing wants to survive after the boomers die, they will need to re-brand the sport. I have zero idea's on what this would entail though. When poker is legal again...and it will be soon.... you'll see a nice drop off from handles.It's built for my generation. You can play multiple tables and get constant action....

Just my two cents for what they are worth

This. Us young'ns don't have the patience/attention span to learn to read a racing form. I've only convinced one of my friends, many of whom play poker regularly to learn how to read a past performance.

The people who I'm surprised don't jump into horse betting with great interest are all these Sabermetric/stat geek baseball fans. If they bothered to pickup a drf just imagine how they could break down all the different stats, and prioritize which ones are most important to them.

I get Gary West's argument, but you still need to get the 20/30-somethings to have a genuine interest in the sport. Because I doubt when they're nearing retirement that they'll learn out as a new hobby.