A New Way Forward

[dehere]

Following is another article by Alex Waldrop (President and CEO of NTRA). This one is pretty interesting regarding a \"new approach\" for the industry to actually seek out horeplayers\' input in their decision making process. This article is also compliments of Mel Moser. The article is scheduled to appear in next week\'s Horesplayer Magazine.

A New Way Forward

By Alex Waldrop


   In February, the NTRA launched a Horseplayer’s Tour leading to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship. The Tour was born from months of dialogue with horseplayers, which reinforces one of the valuable lessons I learned while running a racetrack: horseplayers often know our business better than we do.  The important contributions the players made to the formation of the Tour have led us at the NTRA to consider how our best customers also might help us address some of the other major challenges the industry faces in growing participation.
   In my 15 years of involvement with this great sport and industry, I, like so many others, have heard plenty of reasons why Thoroughbred racing lags behind other major sports in terms of popularity. There is a lack of structure. Too much product. Not enough good product. No national scheduling. No commissioner with overriding power and authority like in other major sports.  No revenue sharing like professional football and no billion- or even million-dollar television rights deals beyond the Triple Crown races. No easy-to-follow playoff leading to a championship. Our stars are lightly raced and retire too early. The list goes on and on.
   Ultimately, almost all of racing’s competitive challenges can be traced to one indisputable fact: The fundamental economic engine driving virtually all sectors of the horse racing industry – racino subsidies aside – is pari-mutuel wagering.  So, to accomplish positive change within the horse racing industry, it stands to reason that we must engage and connect with those who wager – namely, horseplayers.
   This is not to trivialize the importance of industry cooperation. In fact, the NTRA, a representative organization comprised of virtually every key horse industry constituency, has made significant strides over its first 10 years in areas that include marketing, promotions, television, sponsorship, integrity, group purchasing and legislative advocacy. These efforts have served to build the sport’s profile on Capitol Hill and in the media and have improved the economics and structural underpinnings of our industry as a whole. But much work remains to be done in the area of addressing the fundamental structural issues necessary to duplicate the success realized by other major league sports. To that end, the one \"league\" that has always existed within horse racing, albeit slightly under the surface, is the sport’s legion of loyal horseplayers.
   Consider the following: research conducted by the NTRA over the past eight years indicates that horse racing fans are extremely passionate about our game.  Players not only see themselves as consumers but as caretakers of the sport, and that is something that separates them quite distinctly from fans of other sports. They view the game as a cerebral challenge with each race representing a unique puzzle to be solved. And they also embrace the social or collegial aspects of horse racing. Horseplayers, in short, view themselves as members of a community or an extended family.   Above all, they want to see horse racing thrive.  
   The characteristics of these players – in concert with their knowledge and skill – can help unlock the full potential of horse racing. Customer interaction and participation have greatly fueled the growth of the National Handicapping Championship and, as previously mentioned, led to the formation of the NHC Tour. Similarly, customer engagement can lead to wagering innovation and new ways of approaching fan development. This might mean providing our customers with the information and even software they need to create what they want themselves, like designing their own bets.  Already, amateur bloggers and core fans are communicating and creating content every day on the Internet about racing and the industry. Why not formally enlist them in the process?
   This spring, the NTRA will launch a Horseplayers’ Coalition. Its focus will be to support the NTRA’s Capitol Hill lobbying efforts. One major NTRA legislative initiative is achieving tax withholding on winnings that is commensurate with other forms of gaming.  Horseplayers are painfully aware of the income tax burdens that fall disproportionately on those who wager on horse racing and they are eager to discuss with lawmakers the detrimental effects of these outdated tax laws.  Here again, players understand the real-life complexities of betting better than anybody.
   The Tour, the focus on growing the National Handicapping Championship, and the creation of the Horseplayers’ Coalition are three components of a broader Web 2.0 strategy the NTRA is implementing to engage existing and target fans. Using the social networking opportunities that dominate the Internet, we can now engage our most enthusiastic players on a massive scale and foster the collaboration so necessary for real change.  Long-established businesses like Procter & Gamble Co. and Dow Chemical Co. are starting to listen more intently to contributions from their best customers.  LEGO uses the Internet to enlist the support of its customers in the creation and effective marketing of new toys.  If we follow these examples, we need look no farther than our core fans for the energy and creativity necessary to discover the \"next big thing\" in racing.  And who is to say that these same participants can’t help us address larger issues affecting the overall structure of the game?
   These ideas about mass collaboration and customer engagement apply even more to the elusive younger audience our industry so long has coveted.  The emerging generation, called Millennials (12-29 year-olds), is significantly more likely to wager online and in other ways than older generations, they are serious sports fans and they seek out games and sports that require thinking.  But if we fail to adapt our business model to their modes of interaction, via text messaging and social networking rather than traditional media, we may lose that generation entirely and with it will go perhaps the greatest potential for growth our business has seen since the appearance of televised sports.
   The ultimate power within this game lies with those whose wagering dollars fuel the pari-mutuel engine. Because these people are largely nameless and faceless, their potential too often goes untapped.  This is a mistake that the industry can no longer afford to make. In the coming months, you can expect to hear the NTRA speaking up on a number of key issues.  To our horseplayers, we at the NTRA give our word that you will be an important part of that process.  We’ve always appreciated your business. We will now do a better job of appreciating your ideas.

[BitPlayer]

My reaction:  Talk is cheap.

By way of contrast, I offer the following excerpt of an e-mail received (and posted) by the proprietor of Left At The Gate from a Breeders\' Cup consultant.  The e-mail was in defense of the BC\'s recent decision to shift its filly and mare races to Friday and rename the Distaff:

\"This wasn\'t done on a whim by a bunch of guys on the BC Board. The process was deliberate and included a focus group of leading female and male sports marketing and horse racing executives. . . . The Distaff is a great name and has great heritage for the 3-5% who follow the sport on a regular basis (and who make up the passionate readers of the Thoroughbred blogoshpere). We have to look toward the other 95 percent like any other sport/brand that needs to bring in new audiences.\"

[fkach]

The one thing the new format \"may\" do is increase the handle.  

I played the Friday card last year, but I tend to like all stakes races. With a few super high quality races now on the Friday card, I suspect that at least some people that wouldn\'t have bet will now do so. And they will probably continue betting all the races on Saturday.

[MO]

I can\'t tell you how many times I have heard irate horse players yelling and screaming at management when there is a perceived injustice. Or how many trash cans have been set on fire at the NYRA tracks when a favorite is off the board.

If I were on the management side and somebody set my trash cans on fire or started yelling, screaming and cursing incoherantly at me, I would have the same attitude as current race track GMs. And we all know what that attitude is, right?

It\'s all in the delivery, fans.

\"You\'ll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar\"
Mom

[richiebee]

dehere Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Following is another article by Alex Waldrop
> (President and CEO of NTRA). This one is pretty
> interesting regarding a \"new approach\" for the
> industry to actually seek out horeplayers\' input
> in their decision making process. This article is
> also compliments of Mel Moser. The article is
> scheduled to appear in next week\'s Horesplayer
> Magazine.
>
> A New Way Forward
>
> By Alex Waldrop
>
>
>    
>    
>        
>    These ideas about mass collaboration and customer
> engagement apply even more to the elusive younger
> audience our industry so long has coveted.  The
> emerging generation, called Millennials (12-29
> year-olds), is significantly more likely to wager
> online and in other ways than older generations,
> they are serious sports fans and they seek out
> games and sports that require thinking.  But if we
> fail to adapt our business model to their modes of
> interaction, via text messaging and social
> networking rather than traditional media, we may
> lose that generation entirely and with it will go
> perhaps the greatest potential for growth our
> business has seen since the appearance of
> televised sports.


Ah, the Millennials.

There was a \"60 Minutes\" segment on the Millennials done with humor by Morley
Safer.

If you did not see it you can probably watch it on You Tube. The segment
explained how large and small corporations managed by \"Baby Boomers\" were
having trouble coping with the new generation, the \"Millennials\". According to
Safer,the problem with the Millennials is that they were pampered by their
parents and teachers, that they were given trophies for participating, whether
they won or lost.

Lets see -- a generation used to being pampered and made feel that they are
important -- they will feel right at home at any racetrack in the US, for sure!
Oh I forgot most wagering will be done online. Will the Millennials have
patience for the insanely gerrymandered online wagering environment we have
now?

Lets see -- a generation which is used to being rewarded win or lose-- how is a
Millennial going to feel when his selection is way up the track, and his buddy
next to him is jumping up and down cheering his selection home?

I love all the talk in the threads about bringing in this younger generation.
What was the average age of the competitors at Red Rocks this year? What is the
average age of the winner of the NHC tournament the last five years? I do not
think it is because younger people do not want to be involved; I think it is
because one of the elements of handicapping is EXPERIENCE; do the \"Millennials\"
(think instant gratification) have the patience to garner this experience? I
think not. Will advanced handicapping software and products such as TG help
advance the learning curve?  

The BC\'s decision to separate the female races, which is contrary to both the
history and tradition of Racing AND all trends in US culture which have seen
the genders come closer together, and the wonderfully alliterative
quote \"Handicappers are Heroes\" leads me to believe that Racing in America is
on the respirator, and I do not have much faith in the physicians entrusted
with bringing it back to life.

The major racing in the world in the next 30 years will be conducted in Dubai,
Europe and Hong Kong; American racing, racehorses and racetracks will be an
afterthought. Many of the beautiful horse farms in Kentucky, Florida and
California will be covered with tract housing; maybe they will name the streets
after the horses we watched when racing was a great sport.

Lets review some recent buzzwords:

1)\"Synthetic surfaces will save racing\"
2)\"Handicappers can be Heroes!?\"
3)\"Lets get the Millennials to come to the rescue.\"

I personally think Frank Stronach should be in charge of 3). We can be certain
that in his ardor to attract the \"Millennials\" he will disenfranchise everybody
over 40--the folks who have supported racing all these years.

Alex Waldrop: The future of Racing is now. The problems you are addressing now
should have been addressed 25 years ago, about the time the use of lasix was
becoming widespread. Good luck to you and your NTRA gang, who will attempt to
save racing in between handicapping contests.

Mr. Waldrop: I will give you a simple problem to work with: I want to be able
to watch races LIVE from Churchill, Fair Grounds, Santa Anita and Keeneland
without paying for multiple cable providers; I want to have access to all major
American racing in my living room here in New York.

If you and your NTRA tourists can make this happen, then maybe some work can be
done on the big problems.

[miff]

Bee,


Stop making common sense remarks, you\'ll confuse the people who run racing.

Mike

[jma11473]

Richie, I respect your opinion and you stated it well, but keep this in mind---I\'ve read a lot of things where the older generation said how the younger generation is spoiled and has no work ethic. The problem is, these articles were written in 1890, 1920, 1950, and 1980, and they\'ll be written in 2010 and 2040. The older generation always looks down on the younger one. I don\'t think it\'s the failure of young people to understand horse racing that\'s the issue. To me, the issue is that there is much more competition for the gambling dollar, most of which gives you a better chance of winning money. Simple as that.