Bob Carson

It is often instructive to study other sinking ships. How do they patch holes in their hulls and stay afloat in the ocean of recreational options competing for fans and dollars. Occasionally, some leisure pursuits that require live people to spend real money may appear to be on the way to the bottom of the sea when suddenly they right the ship and actually thrive.

Compared to many activities, harness racing is an exceptionally good entertainment product, much easier to sell than say, orchestra tickets in a town of 50,000 people.

Many orchestras across the country are failing; most end the season with bankruptcy, large deficits or like Blanche Dubois, exist on the charity of strangers. Jeff Reed, however, music director in Bowling Green, Kentucky relates the following happy account. Six years ago, during his first season, his orchestra budget was $15,000. This year it will be $500,000 and will end with a $20,000 surplus. His audiences have grown from an average of 100 per performance to an average of 800. Some concerts pack in as many as 2,000.

So how did he do it?

Autumn Schmidt graphic

Jeff began by reading several studies on why orchestras are failing. He learned that potential attendees do not want to hear one type of music. He also learned that people get bored without something to watch. Musicians fiddling around are not enough. Therefore he decided what not to give people — traditional programs of classical music. He did wacky stuff.

He began to center his musical programs on themes, tie musical elements together, and add visual elements with projection screens. For example, “That 20’s Show” would feature music by Shostakovich, along with a silent film from the 20’s on the screen and then some Gershwin songs. Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring would suddenly be interrupted by a live Bluegrass Band. The Beatles and Beethoven would appear on the same show. Silly? Maybe. Do the new concerts alienate some hard-core traditional classical music fans? Certainly. Is Jeff standing still? No.

We must remember that horse racing is fun. We have assets that many entertainment venues envy. We have live animals (except when I bet on them), wagering, and we are a true sport. Much of my work deals with minor league professional baseball. During one of my chats with a baseball GM he let slip this little nugget: “To me, horse racing would seem to have a wider reach and more advantages than Minor League baseball.”

We look at our grandstands and think, “Silliness and fun is not going to work with this crowd,” and we are correct. We need a new crowd. The old railbirds will hang around until the last call to post. Marketing people need to promote to NEW fans and new fans want NEW types of entertainment. How new? Here is a quick list of offbeat efforts to lure new people to Minor League ballparks last year.

• Ugly Sweater Night — Fans wore their most hideous sweater. The winner received a shopping spree at Goodwill. Fans were encouraged to bring unwanted clothing to the ballpark.
• World’s Largest Tighty-Whitey Race — groups of people were banded together in a super-sized pair of briefs and ran around the bases.
• Pedometer Giveaway Night — The Quad City River Bandits gave the fans the chance to calculate the exact distance from their seat to the concession stand. (Racing could measure distance to the betting windows).
• Mullet Haircut Night — Fans brave enough to sport the retro haircuts (or wigs) got free admission and undoubtedly free ridicule. Barbers were on hand to give better looks. (Racing could have a fedora hat night).
• Pillow Fight World Record — 3,872 fans took part in a post-game pillow melee at Philip B. Elfstrom Stadium.
• First Pitch World Record — The Huntsville Stars opened their ballpark 19 hours before game time as a steady stream of fans, players and local celebrities tossed a world-record 11,689 “First” pitches.” (Racing could have a “pet a live racehorse record night”).
• Night of 100 Promotions — The State College Spikes covered all the bases by jamming 100 promotions into one schizophrenic and highly entertaining evening.
• A Spam Carving Competition — Staged by the Reading Phillies, fans were able to purchase a can of Spam for $5, and then they were given the opportunity to carve and mold the canned meat product into anything their heart desired.

Some of these worked. Some fell flat. But the ball teams keep pitching like their lives depended on it — every night. And slowly it worked; minor league and independent league baseball grows new fans and fills stadiums. Horse racing continues to shrink. Like Jeff Reed and his orchestra and like low-level baseball parks, we need to make the experience lively, interactive and fun. We cannot be afraid to make fools of ourselves. We need to replace the lonely echoes at our racetracks with a buzz.

It is encouraging to look over the fence and see that new fans can be recruited to old forms of entertainment. Too often, the towel has been thrown in when it comes to live attendance in horse racing. The proper formula has yet to be discovered. Many efforts by racetracks like oldies concerts or t-shirt nights or other promotions have fizzled out; they have proven to be unproductive or not cost effective. But giving up on new fans is not an option unless we are happy becoming an insular form of gambling — a future that does not appeal to many of us.

If your paycheck depended on recruiting new fans, you have to believe it would be an easier task to lure people to a racetrack to watch and wager on horse races than it would be to get people to plunk down real money to listen to Beethoven.

If Jeff can do it, so can we.