“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our cause is new, so must we think anew and act anew.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Whenever you need a solid quote to emphasize your point, look no further than “honsest” Abe. Our sixteenth and perhaps most distinguished President was of course not discussing any vexing problems threatening the long term health of the horse racing industry, but his quote is no less “fitting and proper” (to use another of my favorite Lincolnisms) to our occasion as it was to cause of liberty on which he spoke.
A few weeks ago the announcement of Curlin’s retirement came, and admittedly I flew into a sort of overall funk. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of this funk, I was filled again with the spirit of pushing for reform and change within the sport. “Take Back Saturday” was focused in my mind, heavy in my heart, and fresh on my lips. Like any writer who feels they are attached to a “cause” – I picked up the pen (in this case a keyboard) and began to let loose.
What followed was gripping, if not somewhat shocking. Was I a disgruntled fan who was fed up with the way things were? Hardly. Was I a Johnny-come-lately trying to shout as loud as I could so that someone might pay attention? I can see how some might think that. In reality, it was simply a revulsion at the current state of affairs, through no one individuals fault alone, but rather through the culmination of decades of mistakes and misdirection, that had finally proven beyond the shadow of doubt that our sport had sold it’s soul for the Warhol-esque “15 minutes of fame” that come with a Kentucky Derby victory – and at the expense of everything else “we” hold dear.
The idea was not to point fingers. Not to blame. Not to shame. Rather, the idea was to rally folks around the flag and resolve that which know to be true. To reaffirm that which is good about the sport we care so deeply for, and put forth our best effort possible in moving it forward into the 2nd decade of the 21st century and beyond.
The results? Mixed, I’d say. On the one hand, we managed to generate what I’m told was a record number of comments (53 and counting) over on Bloodhorse for a TBA authored post. On the other, I fear I may have not driven the message completely home, perhaps even obfuscating a few central facts, or even worse alienating a few potential allies. These are, of course, easy to do when one is attempting to Thomas Paine there way through the blogosphere.
So, at the risk of alienating even more readers through the dreaded act of repetition, allow me to one more time (and most likely not the last time) make a compelling case for Take Back Saturday. NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop is currently asking fans to put forth their ideas at “moving the needle” and using earned media to more actively get the word out about thoroughbred racing. As always, I encourage all readers to venture over and voice their opinions on the matter.
From reading Alex’s post, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps I had been too forceful. I certainly didn’t mean to make my previous case sound as if I were blaming the NTRA itself/alone for the current state of affairs – nor for the lack of interest in the story of Curlin’s retirement. The point I was trying to make is that the fact that Curlin’s retirement received about as much public attention as last year’s meat loaf was the result of years worth of mistakes…many years, in fact.
My assessment of the current state of affairs is that we only give the public a reason to care about horse racing on 1 day a year – Kentucky Derby Day. The Queen of England is in attendance. Presidential candidates and government officials make public their selections. It’s a day when even folks who have never seen a horse or a race track understand that a “big race” is happening. If, and only if, the same horse that wins the Kentucky Derby goes on to win the Preakness, then we have a new wave of public interest leading up to the Belmont 5 weeks later in the quest for the first elusive Triple Crown in 30+ years.
I get WHY this is the way things are. It’s not hard to understand. It’s an easy story to tell. Why should folks care? It’s the Kentucky Derby! It’s a Triple Crown! Like Vince from ShamWow tells me every night “I don’t know, the product sells itself!”
Vince from ShamWow tells it like it is: 1:27
What I don’t get is why we don’t try and change things so that this is not the ONLY day that matters. That’s of course going to be a tougher sell, but impossible? Hardly. To me it comes down to three basic components: context, relevance, and accessibility. Give folks a reason to care, build off of that to generate real interest, and then make sure the sport is there for them to participate in and enjoy. Right now we fail miserably on all 3 counts.
That’s the spirit behind the Take Back Saturday initiative. Is it aggressive? Certainly it is. Audacious? you betcha! But what plan that has ever revived a sagging industry has not been audacious in nature? It’s been called numerous things by opponents, such as arrogant – which it most assuredly is not.
The idea is that you make the best racing action we have available via a weekly Saturday broadcast on a nationally televised channel. Why Saturday? Because that’s when our biggest Grade 1 and Grade 2 Stakes are typically run. It’s when our marquee action occurs. It gives us a chance to sell our best product to the public. Think of it this way, if you were a car dealer, wouldn’t you want your flashiest models there in the showroom for all to see? Of course you would! Why a “nationally televised channel?” Well, don’t get me wrong, as I love TVG and I’m sure if it were available to me I’d love HRTV, but neither strike me as channels that are either easy to find (TVG is buried in the 600′s on Directv), nor are they conducive towards generating “new” fans. They exist to serve the needs of the firmly entrenched fan. Nationally televised networks like ESPN exist for different purposes, and would afford the opportunity to show the sport however we wanted. This is the “accessibility” part of the equation.
To focus on the context and relevance portions of the equation, we have to make the races matter. Part of this works in a fashion similar to compound interest. You let it build upon itself. How? Our original selling line was “by telling a continuous story from the Triple Crown to the Breeders’ Cup.” What does this mean? It means explaining in detail why each race matters. It could be a “road to the roses” Kentucky Derby prep race, or a “win and you’re in” race with Breeders’ Cup championship implications. It also means telling the human and equine interest stories and making their names (to quote my favorite Shakespeare line) “as familiar in their mouths as household words.” Think of a horse like Zenyatta, who’s only appearance on national television came on a Friday afternoon while most of the nation was at work. Don’t you think seeing her or Pepper’s Pride numerous times would make people remember them? I’d tend to think they leave quite an impression.
The “compound interest” part is the real benefit. The more familiar they become, the more folks care. The more folks care and understand why the races they are running in are big, the more interested they will become. From a strictly business point of view, “interest” should generate increased viewership and/or income through mediums like ownership and betting handle. More importantly though, we’ll be nurturing a new generation of fans and showing them the beauty and pageantry of horse racing that is likely what first attracted many of us to the sport.
Sure, we’ve got some degenerate gamblers in our ranks. Who knows, I might be one of them – but I’m convinced that while folks like me wager quite a bit at the tracks over the year, it’s not really the betting that keeps us coming back. Or perhaps more correctly, it’s not ONLY the betting that keeps us coming back. It’s the horses – and the competition. Human beings are absolutely drawn to watching compelling competition, and watching as challenges are navigated and ultimately overcome. I recall vividly becoming convinced of this while watching numerous sports quite passionately during the Olympics that individually fail to register even a blip on my cumulative radar. It’s the nature of who we are.
And it’s within our ability to enact this. It’s doable. It might be difficult to get into motion, and it will certainly require some significant up front costs, but the investment is in the future rather than the immediacy of the here and now.
Of course, like all plans – it was a snapshot in time from it’s creation. And it wasn’t our only plan. We also pitched the NTRA and track marketing reps about selling merchandise that had more staying power (such as trending away from “event specific” merchandise that loses it’s value within 48 hours of going on sale , and instead selling horse/jockey/trainer specific memorabilia that has greater shelf-life), incorporating standings (again hitting the context/relevance theme of “Take Back Saturday”), and incorporating web 2.0 technology and utilizing it to better connect with their fans. Lastly, we touched on aspects like “gaming” (especially from a “fantasy” perspective), and even making horse ownership less of a misunderstood concept to prospective fans.
So that’s what we came up with. What ideas have you got? Note – don’t leave ‘em here without venturing over to Alex’s “Straight Up” blog, as that’s where the ideas are most needed. Do so by clicking here: http://www.ntra.com/blog.aspx?blogid=15&year=2008&month=12&day=5
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