In the blogosphere the big doings has been talk about the NTRA Marketing Summit and how to sustain fans, particularly younger fans under 30 in this industry.
There is the usual entries-market it as a sport vs. market it as gambling, lower takeouts, customer service, etc. Well, this weekend under sunny skies the track will be packed at Saratoga. Why don't we look at the reasons the track will be packed this weekend and work on marketing that year round:
1. It is an event. ie : "The Travers"
2. The meet is short and not too long
3. You can bring in your own food/beer/wine etc-customer friendly to the everyman fan
4. Graded Stakes races, quality races, full fields, horses you know by name are racing
5. It is cool to be there-great crowd mix
To me in my opinion the other tracks are not as packed because the meets are way too long, poor fields, poor customer service and not cool to be there. Sure there are other problems, early horse retirement, drugs, synthetics, etc but if we run meets year round that have meaning and properly market those specific meets on TV, Internet, with a Standings System (see right hand column- TBA Standings), you have something to go on. Anyway, if you are at the track this weekend, look around and formulate your own ideas on what works and what does not.
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