Not saying the economy didn't have anything to do with it. Obviously, it did.
Just looking at handle numbers for Saturday on Labor Day Weekend last year vs. this year, both Saratoga and Del Mar fared much better percentage-wise than Churchill did with the Derby:
Code:
SAR2019 $29.88M
SAR2020 $23.11M
-22.66%
DMR2019 $13.73M
DMR2020 $13.50M
-1.68%
If the bulk of the fall-off in Derby handle was economy related, I'm thinking both Saratoga and Del Mar would have seen a fall-off in handle similar to the Derby.
Imo, there's more going on here than just the economy.
I'm thinking moving the Derby to Labor Day weekend didn't work out that well for Churchill because:
Churchill's main competition (this year) was Saratoga and Del Mar as opposed to Belmont and a winding down Santa Anita meet. (Imo, much tougher company.)
Also missing this year were 100k plus fans on track at Churchill.
Perhaps more important, there's the tens of thousands of horseplayers across the US and Canada who normally spend Derby Day at a brick and mortar simulcast facility. For a lot of them (myself included) that wasn't an option this year.
For a lot of people, there's something about being there in person (even if
'there' happens to be your local track or otb) that translates to Derby Fever.
Imo, Derby Fever is what makes the Derby a special event.
I don't know about anyone else - but I did not experience much in the way of Derby Fever this year.
-jp
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