good theory - I always wonder why they air the races, have tracks across the country, have OTB's everywhere, I mean no one gives a fuck about it. So much wasted money on a dying sport.
Ratings are declining and they are grasping for stories of interest.
When the horses themselves are failing to drive story lines then the networks/producers need something else to drive interest. Thus, a camera in Bob Baffert's mug all day. Which was the point I was making of course.
You following me around tonight picking ridiculous arguments?
Breeders' Cup gets primetime promotion
NBC hopes to drive new viewers to racing's premier event
By Stuart Levine
Snow King leaves the track after training in preparation for the 2012 Breeder?s Cup at Santa Anita Park
Snow King leaves the track after training in preparation for the 2012 Breeder?s Cup at Santa Anita Park
NBC is shifting Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic to primetime, but it may be too late to generate new viewer enthusiasm for a sport that lost its TV luster years ago.
If the switch from afternoon to nighttime for the last race on the card, the $5 million Classic, had happened back in 2009, when superfilly Zenyatta was garnering national attention and engineered a historic come-from-behind win at the Breeders' Cup, it might have helped horse racing garner new fans.
This year's event, however, lacks any true equine star power.
That said, NBC Sports programming president Jon Miller said the two days of Breeders' Cup coverage that begins Friday will be "welcoming to the novice viewer. We want to try to generate new fans."
Because of a conflict with Notre Dame football on Saturday, the Breeders' Cup will move to NBC Sports Network and off NBC, where it aired from 1984-2005, before moving over to ABC-ESPN. (The Classic will still air on NBC.)
During those years when football and racing clashed on NBC, the Irish would move the starting time of its games to accommodate the Breeders' Cup. With Notre Dame playing so well this year, that wouldn't even be up for debate.
There has been little pushback from the racing community on the move from broadcast to cable, but horse racing has practically no leverage these days. Ratings have fallen, attendance is down at most tracks around the country, and interest has tumbled since the days when Seabiscuit was a national hero and Santa Anita would regularly draw 50,000 fans for a Sunday afternoon.
And events leading to the cancellation of HBO's "Luck" have helped spur concern by some who read racing coverage only when tragedy strikes about how the horses are treated at the racetrack, making some queasy about the sport.