PATRICK ROCHE
I was trolling through the TDN website and came across: “Racing is Not Delivering What the Younger Demographic Wants” by Dean Towers which immediately caught my attention (TDN, September 30, 2015). As ever, it touched on a very pertinent issue, one which I as a “millennial” have spent much time considering over the years.
I must say that while I understand Dean's point, I strongly believe that he, and in fact the majority of the racing industry, have got this issue backwards. I agree with Dean insofar as the solution is not about on-track entertainment, live bands, time in between racing etc., but I have to disagree on his point that attracting the younger demographic to gamble is the solution. For too long, those promoting our sport have tried to attract “millennials” by directing their attention away from the merits of the sport itself and onto attractions such as entertainment and betting which will attract only a certain short-term interest. This clearly doesn't work.
The most popular sports in the UK and Ireland, namely soccer, rugby, tennis, golf and hurling & Gaelic Football (in Ireland) survive on their entertainment factor alone, not on their ability to provide a betting medium for spectators. Why is this? For my money, it's because the promoters focus on the sport itself–a derby meeting between two premiership teams, a comeback story of a player whose career was wrote off and so on. Racing is rich with these stories–too many to even begin to mention. The stigma attached to horse racing is that of a closed shop, insider knowledge and gambling–why would anyone develop an interest? To many “outsiders,” the merits of the sport itself; the competitiveness of horses, jockeys, trainers and breeders is completely lost on them.
The theory, in my eyes, that gambling will provide what the younger demographic craves is fundamentally flawed for two reasons. One, no person develops a genuine emotional interest in a sport for financial reasons. Second, only the most astute of punters can successfully gamble and turn a profit. Horseracing is so multi-dimensional–more so than any other sport, I would argue–and therefore is possibly the most difficult sport to successfully bet on. The effect of attracting the younger demographic through gambling would surely just once again serve to attract a short term injection of interest, tailing off when those persons have lost their shirts!
Racing has an issue attracting a young audience, that is something we can't deny. But maybe it's time to start attracting people through promotion of the sport itself, not the money that one can win or lose on it and certainly not the live band!
It's time to start looking at the bigger, long-term picture.
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