Evans calls for more horse racing innovation
THROUGHBRED TIMES.comChurchill Downs President Bob Evans said racetracks have to present their racing product in a way that makes sense to current fans while attracting new fans.
In speaking to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers on Tuesday evening at Embassy Suites in Lexington, Evans said the current racing product tends to alienate potential fans with its lack of focus. He said with multiple tracks running every day, there are about 7,375 racing cards offered each year in the United States. Those numbers overwhelm fans.
“When you look at the product, I conclude that we have too much of it. There’s 52,000 races in the United States … Put it in context of the rest of the world, in all of the rest of the world there’s 117,000,” Evans said. “If you look at handle per race, here it’s $280,000 per race. Outside of the U.S., it’s $780,000 a race.
“If you look at starters, one of the primary drivers of handle, we average about eight starters a race in the U.S. and ten a race outside the U.S. Ten starters a race and $780,000 in handle, that economic model works. You can make that work. You can’t make eight starters and $280,000 a race work.”
When Evans, founder of Tenlane Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, described the horse racing industry as one that is, “built almost entirely on unrealistic hope,” he received a knowing laugh from his audience.
Still, Evans is confident Churchill and other tracks can turn things around.
Read More by Frank Angst
