Why is Nascar "bigger" than horse racing?

[Stillriledup]

A lot more people are buying Dale Jr jerseys and hats than they are buying John Velazquez or Todd Pletcher jerseys.

Both sports have "races" where humans and animals/machines go around in a circle yet one is "struggling" and the other is prospering. Who is at fault for horse racing not being as big as nascar? Name names. stronach? Churchill? Ntra? Whos fault is this?

[Tall One]

TV contracts allow them to stay "prosperous" despite on track attendance falling every year. Bristol's night race used to be one of the hardest tickets on the circuit to come by. Now, not so much. I was given tickets to the race in Sparta this weekend (I was going regardless) as well as tix to the Busch series race which were freebies too. I'm paying for parking, and consumables, and that's it. Estimated up front costs: +/- $100 for two nights camping, beer drinking, and grilling out. Forgot the petro..one tank of gas will get me there and back with above a 1/4 tank left over.

I haven't bought a new Kevin Harvick hat in years. #29 Goodwrench lives on!

[Tom]

You could never fit all those advertisements on a jockey.

[BlueChip@DRF]

Originally Posted by Tom

You could never fit all those advertisements on a jockey.

You could fit them on a horse.

[Robert Fischer]

Nascar understands sponsorships and media.

Horse racing does not understand sponsorships and media.


A lot of households don't even get the races broadcast in their cable package.
I was on vacation about a year ago, and that house actually had tvg or hrtv or whatever the name of that channel that you actually have to pay for to get broadcast to you, and on the commercial they had farming equipment. They didn't even understand the basics on any facet.

It's slightly more difficult to sell products to consumers via horses than racecar drivers. There's the animal issue, where if a horse breaks down it's an ugly thing, but if a racecar driver dies, they can manufacture a 'hero' out of him or at least a media buzz for a week or so.
But in the end almost anything can be done with the media, and between the people who run racing, and the people who broker the media, and the businesses who want product association, it isn't happening at any kind of level in racing.

[ManU918]

95% of American households own a car whereas only 1.5% own a horse. More people can relate to a car. That sums it up IMO.

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by ManU918

95% of American households own a car whereas only 1.5% own a horse. More people can relate to a car. That sums it up IMO.

110% correct, end of story.

[BettinBilly]

Originally Posted by Tom

You could never fit all those advertisements on a jockey.

Tom, you slay me.


Seriously, however, I have personally never understood this myself. I've never been a fan of NASCAR. Yet I know it's a HUGELY popular sport. I much prefer F1 Racing, but the bulk of America is gaga over NASCAR. Go figure.

[Prairie Bettor]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

A lot more people are buying Dale Jr jerseys and hats than they are buying John Velazquez or Todd Pletcher jerseys.

Both sports have "races" where humans and animals/machines go around in a circle yet one is "struggling" and the other is prospering. Who is at fault for horse racing not being as big as nascar? Name names. stronach? Churchill? Ntra? Whos fault is this?

No one outside of the very small core racing players know John Velazquez or Todd Pletcher... Why would we want to wear their jerseys?

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by ManU918

95% of American households own a car whereas only 1.5% own a horse. More people can relate to a car. That sums it up IMO.

But plenty of people own animals of some kind, animal lovers if you will. If you own a cat or a dog and love animals, why wouldn't you love horses too?

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Nascar understands sponsorships and media.

Horse racing does not understand sponsorships and media.


A lot of households don't even get the races broadcast in their cable package.
I was on vacation about a year ago, and that house actually had tvg or hrtv or whatever the name of that channel that you actually have to pay for to get broadcast to you, and on the commercial they had farming equipment. They didn't even understand the basics on any facet.

It's slightly more difficult to sell products to consumers via horses than racecar drivers. There's the animal issue, where if a horse breaks down it's an ugly thing, but if a racecar driver dies, they can manufacture a 'hero' out of him or at least a media buzz for a week or so.
But in the end almost anything can be done with the media, and between the people who run racing, and the people who broker the media, and the businesses who want product association, it isn't happening at any kind of level in racing.

So who is at fault other than "racing"? The biggest track owners like stronach and Churchill? In other words who's the person who could decide tomorrow "lets get as big as NASCAR" and start implementing changes to get that done?

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

So who is at fault other than "racing"? The biggest track owners like stronach and Churchill? In other words who's the person who could decide tomorrow "lets get as big as NASCAR" and start implementing changes to get that done?

Good question.

I'm not sure what the limiting factor is.

At times I think "wow those big track owners can't see their toes past their gut", and then other times I wonder if some of the conglomerates and groups of large corporations and media-brokers have decided that racing is bad product association as a rule-of-thumb, and have essentially 'blackballed' our sport.

Maybe both.

We've used the media to sell much much worse than horse racing before, so it is certainly possible if you put talented people behind such a project.

[horses4courses]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Nascar understands sponsorships and media.
Horse racing does not understand sponsorships and media.

Bingo

It's all about marketing.
Nascar has followed the NFL, and put together a product people can relate too.
They relate to it mainly through product recognition.

They have promoted their star drivers well.
People can identify with the product.
That is not the case in most sports, most of all horse racing.

[Robert Fischer]

I never understood Nascar,- until I spent a year in the south.

My neighbors and I would all pick a driver (some would play their favorites as a fan rather than top drivers, and others would handicap it), then we'd have a nice cookout with some beer.

You'd pay out to every neighbor whose driver finished ahead of you, and you'd get cash from all of the neighbors whom your driver beat. Actually entertaining to watch in that case.

Before and after, it's been like watching paint dry.

[Robert Goren]

The drivers and car owners actual promote the sport, jockeys and horse owners don't. Plus the same cars are racing every week. Most horses take a month off between races. There is direct correlation between the decline of horse racing and the time horses take off between races. Horses race so seldom these days, it is nearly impossible for a horse to develop a fan base. One more thing, NASCAR does not consider its fans degenerate gamblers.