Quote:
Originally Posted by Honcho
Beautiful Belmont Park watching it on NYRA.com in HDTV is choice and there is 1 patron in the stands and i believe from the finish line cam i see they are getting his pants up now and are escorting him out ...I mean plenty of seating fellas i do not get it and brings me to a ? for the HRT...How do you put asses in the seats at Belmont Park on a beautiful friday afternoon with fantastic horse racing?
horse racing does very well on the big days but how do you convert the people that come to those to everyday fans, especially ones that bet?
does your average person even know you can legally wager online? i dont think ive ever seen anything related to this outside of things you'd only be looking at if you were already into horse racing. has anyone seen TS or xpressbet ads in local card rooms or sports mags or gambling pubs or poker mags?
to me horse racing for a number reasons will always be a niche sport. but you can get gamblers - new ones and bring old ones back, if takeout was better. track brass that have such poor understanding of this tells you all you need to know. also most dont care. so many places rely on slot money and pretty much say f it.
long story short - i went to SA about 2 months ago. not the nicest day weather wise, but not awful. friday afternoon racing. 1st race there was probably 40 or 50 people outside watching the race with another 50-100 inside playing simulcast. more people trickled in throughout the day - mostly degens punting their paycheck and frat guys getting drizzed. anyways point being that actually being there was kind of depressing. fun watching the races and going out to the paddock to watch the horses up close, but not a place i want to go frequently.
the sport needs to focus on getting people to the track with promos that draw them in. but at the same time focus on improving conditions for gamblers (most of whom are NOT at the track). but i have little confidence due to incompetent tracks management and no central authority.