Hajck Hillstrom
03-14-2008, 07:48 PM
I believe this to be a positive step....
How do you all perceive this?
A New Way Forward
By Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA
In February, the NTRA launched a Horseplayer's Tour leading to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship. The Tour was born from months of dialogue with horseplayers, which reinforces one of the valuable lessons I learned while running a racetrack: horseplayers often know our business better than we do. The important contributions the players made to the formation of the Tour have led us at the NTRA to consider how our best customers also might help us address some of the other major challenges the industry faces in growing participation.
In my 15 years of involvement with this great sport and industry, I, like so many others, have heard plenty of reasons why Thoroughbred racing lags behind other major sports in terms of popularity. There is a lack of structure. Too much product. Not enough good product. No national scheduling. No commissioner with overriding power and authority like in other major sports. No revenue sharing like professional football and no billion- or even million-dollar television rights deals beyond the Triple Crown races. No easy-to-follow playoff leading to a championship. Our stars are lightly raced and retire too early. The list goes on and on.
Ultimately, almost all of racing's competitive challenges can be traced to one indisputable fact: The fundamental economic engine driving virtually all sectors of the horse racing industry - racino subsidies aside - is pari-mutuel wagering. So, to accomplish positive change within the horse racing industry, it stands to reason that we must engage and connect with those who wager - namely, horseplayers.
This is not to trivialize the importance of industry cooperation. In fact, the NTRA, a representative organization comprised of virtually every key horse industry constituency, has made significant strides over its first 10 years in areas that include marketing, promotions, television, sponsorship, integrity, group purchasing and legislative advocacy. These efforts have served to build the sport's profile on Capitol Hill and in the media and have improved the economics and structural underpinnings of our industry as a whole. But much work remains to be done in the area of addressing the fundamental structural issues necessary to duplicate the success realized by other major league sports. To that end, the one "league" that has always existed within horse racing, albeit slightly under the surface, is the sport's legion of loyal horseplayers.
Consider the following: research conducted by the NTRA over the past eight years indicates that horse racing fans are extremely passionate about our game. Players not only see themselves as consumers but as caretakers of the sport, and that is something that separates them quite distinctly from fans of other sports. They view the game as a cerebral challenge with each race representing a unique puzzle to be solved. And they also embrace the social or collegial aspects of horse racing. Horseplayers, in short, view themselves as members of a community or an extended family. Above all, they want to see horse racing thrive.
The characteristics of these players - in concert with their knowledge and skill - can help unlock the full potential of horse racing. Customer interaction and participation have greatly fueled the growth of the National Handicapping Championship and, as previously mentioned, led to the formation of the NHC Tour. Similarly, customer engagement can lead to wagering innovation and new ways of approaching fan development. This might mean providing our customers with the information and even software they need to create what they want themselves, like designing their own bets. Already, amateur bloggers and core fans are communicating and creating content every day on the Internet about racing and the industry. Why not formally enlist them in the process?
This spring, the NTRA will launch a Horseplayers' Coalition. Its focus will be to support the NTRA's Capitol Hill lobbying efforts. One major NTRA legislative initiative is achieving tax withholding on winnings that is commensurate with other forms of gaming. Horseplayers are painfully aware of the income tax burdens that fall disproportionately on those who wager on horse racing and they are eager to discuss with lawmakers the detrimental effects of these outdated tax laws. Here again, players understand the real-life complexities of betting better than anybody.
The Tour, the focus on growing the National Handicapping Championship, and the creation of the Horseplayers' Coalition are three components of a broader Web 2.0 strategy the NTRA is implementing to engage existing and target fans. Using the social networking opportunities that dominate the Internet, we can now engage our most enthusiastic players on a massive scale and foster the collaboration so necessary for real change. Long-established businesses like Procter & Gamble Co. and Dow Chemical Co. are starting to listen more intently to contributions from their best customers. LEGO uses the Internet to enlist the support of its customers in the creation and effective marketing of new toys. If we follow these examples, we need look no farther than our core fans for the energy and creativity necessary to discover the "next big thing" in racing. And who is to say that these same participants can't help us address larger issues affecting the overall structure of the game?
These ideas about mass collaboration and customer engagement apply even more to the elusive younger audience our industry so long has coveted. The emerging generation, called Millennials (12-29 year-olds), is significantly more likely to wager online and in other ways than older generations, they are serious sports fans and they seek out games and sports that require thinking. But if we fail to adapt our business model to their modes of interaction, via text messaging and social networking rather than traditional media, we may lose that generation entirely and with it will go perhaps the greatest potential for growth our business has seen since the appearance of televised sports.
The ultimate power within this game lies with those whose wagering dollars fuel the parimutuel engine. Because these people are largely nameless and faceless, their potential too often goes untapped. This is a mistake that the industry can no longer afford to make. In the coming months, you can expect to hear the NTRA speaking up on a number of key issues. To our horseplayers, we at the NTRA give our word that you will be an important part of that process. We've always appreciated your business. We will now do a better job of appreciating your ideas.
How do you all perceive this?
A New Way Forward
By Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA
In February, the NTRA launched a Horseplayer's Tour leading to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship. The Tour was born from months of dialogue with horseplayers, which reinforces one of the valuable lessons I learned while running a racetrack: horseplayers often know our business better than we do. The important contributions the players made to the formation of the Tour have led us at the NTRA to consider how our best customers also might help us address some of the other major challenges the industry faces in growing participation.
In my 15 years of involvement with this great sport and industry, I, like so many others, have heard plenty of reasons why Thoroughbred racing lags behind other major sports in terms of popularity. There is a lack of structure. Too much product. Not enough good product. No national scheduling. No commissioner with overriding power and authority like in other major sports. No revenue sharing like professional football and no billion- or even million-dollar television rights deals beyond the Triple Crown races. No easy-to-follow playoff leading to a championship. Our stars are lightly raced and retire too early. The list goes on and on.
Ultimately, almost all of racing's competitive challenges can be traced to one indisputable fact: The fundamental economic engine driving virtually all sectors of the horse racing industry - racino subsidies aside - is pari-mutuel wagering. So, to accomplish positive change within the horse racing industry, it stands to reason that we must engage and connect with those who wager - namely, horseplayers.
This is not to trivialize the importance of industry cooperation. In fact, the NTRA, a representative organization comprised of virtually every key horse industry constituency, has made significant strides over its first 10 years in areas that include marketing, promotions, television, sponsorship, integrity, group purchasing and legislative advocacy. These efforts have served to build the sport's profile on Capitol Hill and in the media and have improved the economics and structural underpinnings of our industry as a whole. But much work remains to be done in the area of addressing the fundamental structural issues necessary to duplicate the success realized by other major league sports. To that end, the one "league" that has always existed within horse racing, albeit slightly under the surface, is the sport's legion of loyal horseplayers.
Consider the following: research conducted by the NTRA over the past eight years indicates that horse racing fans are extremely passionate about our game. Players not only see themselves as consumers but as caretakers of the sport, and that is something that separates them quite distinctly from fans of other sports. They view the game as a cerebral challenge with each race representing a unique puzzle to be solved. And they also embrace the social or collegial aspects of horse racing. Horseplayers, in short, view themselves as members of a community or an extended family. Above all, they want to see horse racing thrive.
The characteristics of these players - in concert with their knowledge and skill - can help unlock the full potential of horse racing. Customer interaction and participation have greatly fueled the growth of the National Handicapping Championship and, as previously mentioned, led to the formation of the NHC Tour. Similarly, customer engagement can lead to wagering innovation and new ways of approaching fan development. This might mean providing our customers with the information and even software they need to create what they want themselves, like designing their own bets. Already, amateur bloggers and core fans are communicating and creating content every day on the Internet about racing and the industry. Why not formally enlist them in the process?
This spring, the NTRA will launch a Horseplayers' Coalition. Its focus will be to support the NTRA's Capitol Hill lobbying efforts. One major NTRA legislative initiative is achieving tax withholding on winnings that is commensurate with other forms of gaming. Horseplayers are painfully aware of the income tax burdens that fall disproportionately on those who wager on horse racing and they are eager to discuss with lawmakers the detrimental effects of these outdated tax laws. Here again, players understand the real-life complexities of betting better than anybody.
The Tour, the focus on growing the National Handicapping Championship, and the creation of the Horseplayers' Coalition are three components of a broader Web 2.0 strategy the NTRA is implementing to engage existing and target fans. Using the social networking opportunities that dominate the Internet, we can now engage our most enthusiastic players on a massive scale and foster the collaboration so necessary for real change. Long-established businesses like Procter & Gamble Co. and Dow Chemical Co. are starting to listen more intently to contributions from their best customers. LEGO uses the Internet to enlist the support of its customers in the creation and effective marketing of new toys. If we follow these examples, we need look no farther than our core fans for the energy and creativity necessary to discover the "next big thing" in racing. And who is to say that these same participants can't help us address larger issues affecting the overall structure of the game?
These ideas about mass collaboration and customer engagement apply even more to the elusive younger audience our industry so long has coveted. The emerging generation, called Millennials (12-29 year-olds), is significantly more likely to wager online and in other ways than older generations, they are serious sports fans and they seek out games and sports that require thinking. But if we fail to adapt our business model to their modes of interaction, via text messaging and social networking rather than traditional media, we may lose that generation entirely and with it will go perhaps the greatest potential for growth our business has seen since the appearance of televised sports.
The ultimate power within this game lies with those whose wagering dollars fuel the parimutuel engine. Because these people are largely nameless and faceless, their potential too often goes untapped. This is a mistake that the industry can no longer afford to make. In the coming months, you can expect to hear the NTRA speaking up on a number of key issues. To our horseplayers, we at the NTRA give our word that you will be an important part of that process. We've always appreciated your business. We will now do a better job of appreciating your ideas.