Horseracing is Obviously Dead (TV Ratings Edition)

[Irish Boy]

The CCA Oaks outdrew almost all of the NHL playoff games that appeared on Versus (the same network).

That's the way forward in the future. TV rights are free money. They are also the way that almost every professional support supports itself. Expecting the sport to grow through handle growth alone is hoping for the impossible.

[sonnyp]

good for horse racing, but there wasn't much competition. outside of the usual saturday afternoon boring major league baseball game, what else in the sports world was on ?

[Irish Boy]

good for horse racing, but there wasn't much competition. outside of the usual saturday afternoon boring major league baseball game, what else in the sports world was on ?
Doesn't really matter. That's an advantage you'll have every Saturday and Sunday from June to August. It's not impossible to imagine summer running tracks in major markets taking advantage of that.

I'd imagine that the million plus people watching the CCA Oaks are the baseline hard core of racing fans. That's not bad, advertising wise, especially because the demographics are likely favorable.

[cj]

good for horse racing, but there wasn't much competition. outside of the usual saturday afternoon boring major league baseball game, what else in the sports world was on ?

Lots of golf.

[Robert Goren]

The CCA Oaks outdrew almost all of the NHL playoff games that appeared on Versus (the same network).

That's the way forward in the future. TV rights are free money. They are also the way that almost every professional support supports itself. Expecting the sport to grow through handle growth alone is hoping for the impossible.That says more about the NHL than it does about horse racing.

[Canarsie]

Give NYRA some credit they swung the TV deal. Once the slot money starts pouring in one would hope they spend the money to show hi def like all the Churchill tracks do.

The biggest loser is TVG who stiffs them because their not an exclusive track. You would have to be crazy to watch the race in standard definition.

[thespaah]

That says more about the NHL than it does about horse racing.
Not really. That Stanley Cup Finals had the highest tv ratings in the history of televised NHL playoff in US. That says a lot given one the teams was located in a Canadian city.
Now, I think horse racing on TV may be on a bit of a rebound.
Let's see how the rest of August goes and chat about it then.
BTW, TVG's love crush with Del Mar is making me want to spit up beer.
The hosts act like Del Mar is the only horse racing meeting that matters.
The goofy stuff the hosts are doing with the fans. And the fact that TVG is finding it necessary to have 683 on camera hosts is just wrong.

[Simple Syrup]

The CCA Oaks outdrew almost all of the NHL playoff games that appeared on Versus (the same network).

That's the way forward in the future. TV rights are free money. They are also the way that almost every professional support supports itself. Expecting the sport to grow through handle growth alone is hoping for the impossible.

It was a really bad year for VS for the playoffs. The first round is a fragmented audience because there are multiple games on at once, and VS only has one of them. The second round had small markets, quick series, and no real story lines. Plus cities like Detroit have the same game on Canadian stations.

All that said, good to see racing getting an audience. I wonder if it's drawing any younger fans.

[lamboguy]

i was just looking at the mountain this evening, they have $25k win pools, a few years ago they were $80k win pools. just to put things into scope, sulfolk did a few races today with the samething or more. the raciing at the mountain is slightly better,

[Stillriledup]

Not really. That Stanley Cup Finals had the highest tv ratings in the history of televised NHL playoff in US. That says a lot given one the teams was located in a Canadian city.
Now, I think horse racing on TV may be on a bit of a rebound.
Let's see how the rest of August goes and chat about it then.
BTW, TVG's love crush with Del Mar is making me want to spit up beer.
The hosts act like Del Mar is the only horse racing meeting that matters.
The goofy stuff the hosts are doing with the fans. And the fact that TVG is finding it necessary to have 683 on camera hosts is just wrong.

Show us your TIX! :D

No doubt that the TVG hosts have a 'mouthfull' of DMR, its a wonder they can speak with a full mouth.

[Irish Boy]

It was a really bad year for VS for the playoffs. The first round is a fragmented audience because there are multiple games on at once, and VS only has one of them. The second round had small markets, quick series, and no real story lines. Plus cities like Detroit have the same game on Canadian stations.

All that said, good to see racing getting an audience. I wonder if it's drawing any younger fans.
All that being said, though, NHL ratings are going up.

My point isn't that horse racing is more popular than hockey. It's that, in the proper situations, it can draw the same television ratings as even playoff hockey. Every other sport relies on that, and it's time horse racing does the same.

[Jasonm921]

The CCA oaks was on NBC, this weeks show (Jim dandy) was on Versus. This week will probably be a better comparison.

[castaway01]

The CCA Oaks outdrew almost all of the NHL playoff games that appeared on Versus (the same network).

That's the way forward in the future. TV rights are free money. They are also the way that almost every professional support supports itself. Expecting the sport to grow through handle growth alone is hoping for the impossible.

I'd be curious to know if NYRA paid for the time or if the network paid NYRA. In the past, horse racing entities have purchased network time just for TV exposure, so the idea that networks will be paying huge rights fees to horse racing is overly optimistic at best. I searched for this information and could not find it, but I would think the only horse racing events networks might pay nominal rights fees for would be the Triple Crown races.

And horse racing is not like every other sport---it's looking to get viewers, but only as a means to make them bettors. It's most important that fans continue to follow the sport and hopefully wager on it. That's why it's okay not to get big (or any) rights fees or even to buy the time---it's like an infomercial trying to get people to spend money on your product.

That's the reality of horse racing on TV in 2011.

[Irish Boy]

I'd be curious to know if NYRA paid for the time or if the network paid NYRA. In the past, horse racing entities have purchased network time just for TV exposure, so the idea that networks will be paying huge rights fees to horse racing is overly optimistic at best. I searched for this information and could not find it, but I would think the only horse racing events networks might pay nominal rights fees for would be the Triple Crown races.
That is true. I hadn't realized that when I made the first post.

And horse racing is not like every other sport---it's looking to get viewers, but only as a means to make them bettors. It's most important that fans continue to follow the sport and hopefully wager on it. That's why it's okay not to get big (or any) rights fees or even to buy the time---it's like an infomercial trying to get people to spend money on your product.

That's the reality of horse racing on TV in 2011.
I couldn't disagree with this more, however. It reminds me of the old baseball guys in the '50s that talked about how TV would just compete with people going to the stadium.

The point is that television can be an independent source of revenue, regardless of handle increases. Every million dollars in ad money is six million you'd need in the WPS pools. You hope that increased exposure will also increase revenue, of course, but the sport needs to get to a position where TV revenue is an independent and reliable source.

You'd hope that you get to a point where you have two or three major tracks for an hour on their major days, so you can show 4-6 races instead of two. Maybe Belmont/Saratoga + Hollywood/Del Mar + an extra track on big days, like Calder for Summit of Speed and Arlington for Million day. And the ratings don't need to be huge to make this worthwhile. If you can get to a consistent 1.5 or so you will easily make the deal worthwhile to all parties. The hope would be that this season primes the pump, so to speak.

[TommyCh]

I don't know what the deal was on ABC Sunday, but it sure looked like the New Jersey Tourism Bureau or somebody or something paid for the air time. they were pumping Jersey Shore tourism. Bill Nack had one of his typically "poetic" pieces (man, does that guy lay it on thick, like he's our literary soul or something) on the joys of summering on The Shore and then they went directly into a commercial for the same thing. You could hardly tell them apart. It seemed like all the commercials were either for tourism or breeding your mare to a recent Grade II winner.

And yes, TVG has jumped the shark and is now being gruesomely mauled by a giant killer whale. I don't get HRTV, but TVG not having hi-def -- not even in the studio -- is ridiculous. They don't ever talk Win, Place or Show, just Pick X sequences. Very provincial.