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[DeanT]

Op Ed in the TDN about most of what we're talking about here.

http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com...Holszh.twitter

Last season the NCAA decided they were not getting enough money for network coverage and signed a new deal. The Final Four and Championship games would not be on free over the air TV in 2016, they’d now be on TBS, which requires a pay TV package to tune in. This strategy brings in more gross dollars, but the end result is the sport will be watched by fewer fans.

According to some, including Tuttle, this tactic has problems.

“The problem is that such agreements are doing serious damage to fan relationships. And perhaps even worse, they hurt the sport down the road, leaving countless would-be fans in the dust,” he wrote.

In 1957, horse racing enjoyed a near gambling monopoly in the state of California. Do you know what this “monopoly” charged customers in takeout? According to a study called Statistical Report of Operations, commissioned by the California Horse Racing Board, it was 13.75%. In 1977, when lotteries and other forms of competition came online, that rate stood at 16.9%. Today, with poker, and daily fantasy sports and casinos everywhere, the rate is about 21%. Ironically, the same 1989 study warned of squeezing the customer too hard, losing them forever, and recommended lowering takeout to help stem the tide.

Horse racing has been taking more off existing customers, rather than growing them in numbers, long before the NCAA’s ever tried.