Baby Steps

by Ed Meyer

posted on October 27, 2009 in General Discussion | No Comments >>

It seems that every time that I speak with another racing manager, the concept of dipping handle is always at the top of the list.  So, after being so tired of hearing about this, I have decided to at least formulate a plan, and I have bounced it off of those who make decisions.

The tide has never came back according to most… I asked everyone “what are we doing to stem the flow?” “What are we doing to bring something back to the tracks?” After hearing a little customer service spiel, that everyone had a little version of, I asked them to consider this….

Each month of racing, your track that is running, will receive a day where they are the feature track of the day. All television programs focus on the track like it is Derby Day… They will be on-hand, or have on-track personalities interact with TVG or HRTV… The track will be the focal point of the day. By all means it won’t be the only track open, but it will get the most exposure. This allows for handle to grow, and better reacquaint the players with your product.

The one day of extra handle will not break the bank… But, if you run for three months, it would be like having your marquee day that many times…. Some of the bigger tracks get weekends, and the smaller circuits would get their day in the sun during the week…. It would be very interesting to see what it would do for business. For the first time, we would be marketing our sport like a “Monday Night Football” experience. All focus would be on the track, and on-air personalities would be able to talk about what is coming up and how much action they have to offer…

What do you think? Would it make any differences? What say ye?

To let you know what others have said, it has been met with mixed reactions. It seemed that the biggest problem for many would be they feared they could not get the detail work to roll. But, overall they liked the concept.

This is where we parted roads. I never stop thinking about a way to increase handle, and promote racing. When we get complacent and start looking for the “build it and they will come” attitude, we are in trouble. We need to try all ideas and bounce them around.. If we fail 99 out of 100 times, we have won. That means we would have found an answer.