We are unbelievably fortunate in Ontario right now. OSS purses, breeder's awards, overnight purses, and open stake races are the best in North America, and are adequate enough to keep harness racing alive as a sport and a business
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Racing in Ontario appears to be safe for at least the next few years. All tracks have signed their revenue sharing contracts with the slot money for the next five years. Woodbine is putting in a substantial number of new slot machines which should help us. The new Woodbine Entertainment Complex is planned for the near future and is very exciting.
Randy Waples and Allan Pootoolal have formed an entertainment co. and plan on launching a new TV and internet series featuring harness racing. I think this is fantastic. Bold and innovative ideas like this are what we need.
The recent report from Rod Seiling of the ORC was very encouraging with the message being that the government is our friend, the industry is very important, and provides a lot of jobs, economic activity, etc. throughout a vast area of Ontario. This is probably our biggest strength right now in that there are so many people involved in the industry, especially the rural aspect (feed, vets, trucks, trailers, farming, insurance, etc).
WEG has accomplished their goal of producing full fields by guaranteeing $300 to all starters. Their handle appears to be up since this incentive has been in place.
The ORC has developed and is fine tuning an initiative intended to help racing.
Tracks are starting to experiment with lower takeouts. I am sure that all tracks are monitoring the results of this, so it will be interesting to see what transpires. Catering to the gamblers that we have now and in the future has become an increasingly important issue for the tracks.
The most exciting development to me with regards to increasing wagering is the legalization of exchange betting in New Jersey. It seems to me that this new type of wagering is our best chance to revolutionize horse racing. The possibilities of new types of wagers are numerous, interesting, and quite exciting. We will be hearing a lot about the pros and cons, problems and possibilities of exchange betting in the next little while. Right now only
parimutuel wagering is legal in Ontario but this exchange betting could be a key to our future.
Several positive things have been done in the last year or so and it appears that the steep decline in wagering has stopped for now but our gains are very slight.
The troubling and possibly game ending fact is that we are playing to an empty grandstand and a dwindling customer base. I can't see how we can survive past these next few years unless we increase our fan base and customer base substantially. The vast majority of people know almost nothing about harness racing. We absolutely have to change that for us to survive, and we in the racing business are the ones who have to do it.
To accomplish this - WE NEED A GAME CHANGER - something substantial.
As in any business you need a good product, and you must advertise and promote that product.
I believe we do have a good product. Horse racing is exciting to the participants and it can be just as exciting to the fans if they place a wager on a horse. Just as in baseball and other sports we have to promote our stars - the horses, drivers, trainers, owners, etc. We have a huge advantage over other sports, in that we have legal wagering. We need to entice people to come to the track or watch our races on TV, and wager on the races either at the track or from their home. In this 21st Century we are in that position - we have to re-educate the public about harness racing, and promote our sport.
Standardbred Canada's recent initiative opened up the possibilities of us doing something on a large scale that would have a big impact. It also proved once again how tough it is to get anything accomplished in our business. Many in the industry want something to be done but they want specifics, where the money will be spent and how much it will cost.
The following is my opinion on one specific project that we could try that has a chance to be the GAME CHANGER that we need.
I am going to go out on a limb using this forum to make a very simple and straight forward proposal that I think would be substantial enough to start drawing new customers to harness racing. I propose that we hire a high profile celebrity to be our spokesperson to attract new customers to this sport that we love. This has to be a very high profile person, and the one I propose is 'The Great One', Wayne Gretzky. I have no idea if he would do it or how much it would cost, but the point is we need someone of his stature.
We need a massive advertising blitz. Continuous TV commercials with a Wayne Gretzky promoting harness racing along with our star drivers, trainers, etc. Internet advertising featuring Gretzky, billboards splashed with his face along with our top stars - human and equine.
Personal appearances by a Wayne Gretzky at all the tracks would have to be a tremendous draw. The tracks themselves could have great promotions on the days that 'The Great One' is there. Having a Wayne Gretzky interacting with our horses, drivers, trainers, fans, etc., gives us instant credibility. The possibilities seem endless.
To sign a celebrity of Gretzky's stature will take a lot of money and we are lucky enough to have enough money within our industry right now to do it. I think it would be a great investment for us. A small percentage out of the purse pool can provide millions of dollars that would allow us to make this investment. Financial support and cooperation from all industry groups, racetracks, and especially WEG would be fantastic, as we would all benefit.
It could be a one or two or three year promotional contract, so we would all know the dollar amount that we were investing and it would be for a limited period of time. At the end of the investment period, the results could be analyzed.
I suggest that SC would be the best organization to initiate this if they are willing. They have the infrastructure in place to administer a project of this magnitude. The thing to remember here is that SC (or anyone else) would need some money to do the work necessary in developing this project. Interviews and discussions would have to be entered into with promotional experts, advertising companies, agents, etc.
I will make this proposal to SC, ORC, racetracks, horseman's associations etc., in the form of this open letter.
I hope I am not overstepping my boundaries on this, because there is no guarantee that it would work, but the SC Website provides such a great forum for discussion. Please take advantage of it to give your thoughts, ideas, and criticisms.