If You Were A General Manager @ a Racetrack

[chrisforbes]

If you were a general manager at a track and given a small budget to try to improve the product and to try bring and keep the casual fan coming back to the track, what would you do?

On thing I hate is a track charging you to get in and a taking on a parking fee as well

I'd love to read some feedback on this and maybe I'll pass some along to people at the track I work at.

Speaking of that, if anybody on here goes to Parx on the weekends or plan on going on Labor Day or for the PA Derby, please pm me. I work there and would love to meet up and talk a bit, yeah while I am at work ha ha

chris forbes

[cj]

For the most part, people are not coming back to the track. It doesn't matter what you do or try. The world has changed. People can enjoy racing from their living room and not pay once cent extra above the cost of a bet.

If you want to get people to bet your product, that is a different story. But attendance? That ship has sailed for most tracks.

[Edward DeVere]

Clean and paint, clean and paint, clean and paint.

And establish a shaded picnic-&-play area, a la Delaware. Most race tracks now have plenty of unused space.

I could cry when I think of what could be done at a place like Laurel Park, especially with Stronach's pocket change.

[Tom]

Going to a track is so passe.
There is nothing a track could offer me to make it worth going.
I consider a day at a track wasted.

[TheEdge07]

Originally Posted by cj

For the most part, people are not coming back to the track. It doesn't matter what you do or try. The world has changed. People can enjoy racing from their living room and not pay once cent extra above the cost of a bet.

If you want to get people to bet your product, that is a different story. But attendance? That ship has sailed for most tracks.

CJ i never understood why not change post time...Racing is during work hrs..A later post?

[chadk66]

the industry went south when they lost site of the pagentry of the sport. you have make it a family event that they don't want to miss. free parking, free admission. throw free picnics for families. barn tours for the public so they can see the horses up close and personal. get jockeys to do autograph sessions where the free picnics are being done. make the kids think this sport is the bomb. set up a practice horse like the jocks have in a play area for the kids so they can "win the derby" on the damn thing. Put on nice, low priced buffets that start right when church gets out on sundays so families can go there for the buffet and stay for the races. your only limited to your imagination. doing stuff to attract handicappers is a losing deal because there aren't that many to begin with and most bet via the internet now days anyway. but you have to develop bettors via the young people.

[wiffleball whizz]

Originally Posted by TheEdge07

CJ i never understood why not change post time...Racing is during work hrs..A later post?

Well to answer your question I live 15 min from laurel and I work 10-6.....Monday-Friday.....I can only go 1 out of 4 racing days they don't race on Sunday.....so I can't go 3/4 days....I'm not the only one here

So yes a later post could only help that

But make sure they cater to the $3 bettors in the daytime

Your idea makes too much sense

[kinznk]

I would make more two turn races. I think casual patrons like the excitement of the starting gate and the finish. Or at least I like the excitement of the gate and the finish. 6 F races that start a half a mile away lose some luster.

[cj]

Originally Posted by TheEdge07

CJ i never understood why not change post time...Racing is during work hrs..A later post?

I've never really understood that either, but it isn't like night tracks are flourishing either. They draw some pretty big crowds at Remington here, but nobody bets.

[wiffleball whizz]

Originally Posted by chadk66

the industry went south when they lost site of the pagentry of the sport. you have make it a family event that they don't want to miss. free parking, free admission. throw free picnics for families. barn tours for the public so they can see the horses up close and personal. get jockeys to do autograph sessions where the free picnics are being done. make the kids think this sport is the bomb. set up a practice horse like the jocks have in a play area for the kids so they can "win the derby" on the damn thing. Put on nice, low priced buffets that start right when church gets out on sundays so families can go there for the buffet and stay for the races. your only limited to your imagination. doing stuff to attract handicappers is a losing deal because there aren't that many to begin with and most bet via the internet now days anyway. but you have to develop bettors via the young people.

Casinos buried the racetrack....

And drugs like everybody claims is about 1 percent why people don't go to the track.......

Racing is dead

[nijinski]

Originally Posted by chadk66

the industry went south when they lost site of the pagentry of the sport. you have make it a family event that they don't want to miss. free parking, free admission. throw free picnics for families. barn tours for the public so they can see the horses up close and personal. get jockeys to do autograph sessions where the free picnics are being done. make the kids think this sport is the bomb. set up a practice horse like the jocks have in a play area for the kids so they can "win the derby" on the damn thing. Put on nice, low priced buffets that start right when church gets out on sundays so families can go there for the buffet and stay for the races. your only limited to your imagination. doing stuff to attract handicappers is a losing deal because there aren't that many to begin with and most bet via the internet now days anyway. but you have to develop bettors via the young people.

Speaking of family , I saw a photo of two kids with Lukas after the Travers
in the winners circle . I heard he has done this before . They were chose random. He also always had a welcome and friendly barn to visitors.

All horse people should make efforts like that.

I hope those two boys in flip flops become life long fans and bring along their friends .

[cmp92]

Originally Posted by nijinski

Speaking of family , I saw a photo of two kids with Lukas after the Travers
in the winners circle . I heard he has done this before . They were chose random. He also always had a welcome and friendly barn to visitors.

All horse people should make efforts like that.

I hope those two boys in flip flops become life long fans and bring along their friends .

I've brought my friends along many times to racetracks. However, they seem overwhelmed by the racing forms, the language, the toteboard, pool sizes, bets, etc. They would much rather press buttons at the slots which appears to be more simple than betting on horses.

[Jeff P]

Message to track management and horsemen:

Racing isn't about pageantry. It's about something called GAMBLING.

Hint: You are in the business of selling exacta tickets. (You are not - repeat not - in the entertainment business.)

Open your eyes. Where has the crowd gone? (Not guys like me who are hard core horseplayers betting horses in a serious way... but people who are looking to get their GAMBLING itch scratched and at the same time have a little fun... You know, the crowd that USED to show up at the track and fill the grandstand whenever you opened the doors?)

That crowd hasn't disappeared. FYI the percentage of them per capita is about the same today as it always was. FYI, because of a little something called population growth their numbers are at an all time high.

Where are they? (And where do they go to get their GAMBLING itch scratched?)

You'll find them at the casino.

Why?

No way to sugar coat it...

IT'S THE TAKEOUT STUPID.
The average payback for each $1.00 bet into a slot machine is about 92-93 cents. Last time I checked, in Las Vegas the number was between 94 and 95 cents.

But put another way: The avg "vig" or "takeout" nationally for slot machine play is approximately 7% to 8%.

Now compare that to racing's blended takeout of about 22%. (If you don't think that takeout plays a major role in driving your customers to the competition you are living in denial.)

IT'S ABOUT INTEGRITY STUPID.
Go to Las Vegas. Walk into any casino and LOOK UP. Those funny looking bubbles mounted in the ceiling? Security cameras. Take a few minutes and Google the statutes on cheating. (Hint: You don't want to get caught cheating in a casino.) Think JAIL TIME and a criminal record.

As a result, the betting public (the crowd you want at the track) accepts at face value that the games in a casino are run on the up and up from an integrity standpoint.

Umm... Racing doesn't enjoy that.

Because of odds that change after the bell and failure to deal harshly with those caught cheating through the use of drugs: The betting public (the crowd you want at the track) has little or no faith that horse racing is run on the up and up from an integrity of the game standpoint.

I know, many of you with racing related jobs will disagree with that...

You'll say instead say that "Racing has a perception problem."

Trouble is, the betting public (the crowd you want at your track) isn't buying it - and hasn't been buying it for the longest time.

They are staying away and getting their gambling itched scratched at the casino.

Want the betting public to show up on track again?

It's certainly doable. But you've got your work cut out for you.

The three elephants sitting in your living room?

1. Takeout.

2. Odds that change after the bell.

3. Drugs.

Until or unless you take the big three on in a serious way, expect to continue losing market share to your competitors.




-jp

.

[Phantombridgejumpe]

I'm sure there is stuff going on behind the scenes, but hard for the fan to see.

Clearly the casino action is valued over the racing. There is a separate building for the casino AND half the racing building is for cards and other forms of gambling.

My ideas...

1) Lower takeout, at least to a competitive level

2) Improve simulcast product - Keith Jones is fine, but
there is nothing special about the signal or the coverage.
Every race looks and feels the same

3) Make Mondays and Tuesdays your feature days - other
than Labor Day you don't compare with the big boys, so don't
compete against them. Every Tuesday card should have a
100K race. You would attract more name jockeys and respect

4) Advertise in NJ more. I'm one hour away and NEVER see
coverage, commercials or one word in the local papers

5) Resurface the track, having the best path to be 30 feet off the
rail is just strange

6) Either take one month off or run a month of harness

Just top of my head stuff.

[Dave Schwartz]

For the most part, people are not coming back to the track. It doesn't matter what you do or try. The world has changed. People can enjoy racing from their living room and not pay once cent extra above the cost of a bet.

If you want to get people to bet your product, that is a different story. But attendance? That ship has sailed for most tracks.

Gotta agree with CJ on this one. His quote is perfect: "That ship has sailed."

But, to address the original question: "What would I do with a limited budget?"

1. I would budget some small amount of money to hire a handful of people to coach them on what is wrong.

Examples would be CJ, Jeff Platt, me, and a few other somewhat known and respected people who are advocates of the customer.

2. I would listen to their side of the story, and TRY to implement as many of their suggestions as possible.

3. I would absolutely stand up to the horsemen who are running the show with an attitude that says, "I am going to get paid first and at call costs, even if the track makes nothing and the customer is short-changed." If you want to make the horsemen partners in the profit, fine.

Of course, #3 may well take us out of the low-budget arena, because they will not allow the tracks to get THAT manure back into the horse.