October
OctoberJust racing, and it works
Those who remember "the good old days" will remember the meddling of officials to restrict the public’s access to information.
In the early days of the TAB there was the non-payout of dividends until some time had elapsed after each race. Then someone realised that paying out after each race meant than money could be reinvested and turnover would increase — thereby increasing the takeout by the clubs (in those days) and the industry.
I also remember the old VFL jealously guarding the footballers’ numbers by only making them available to people who bought the Footy Record at the match.
One year the Sun newspaper dared to publish players’ numbers and the authorities ordered players to switch jumpers. ("That’ll teach ‘em!")
Remember delayed telecasts of the footy? The experts said supporters wouldn’t go to the games if they were shown live. The national football league has proved that people still want to see their heroes in action — despite fantastic TV coverage being beamed into their lounge rooms.
In racing we’ve seen in recent times the contract craziness during the spring racing carnival when racing’s bread-and-butter TV service – TVN – has been stopped from showing vision of races due to some overwhelming desire of officials to force punters to watch hats, shoes and celebrities on free-to-air TV.
I can’t see the problem. People who want all the frippery that comes with the spring carnival will still choose to watch it over those who prefer to watch just the races.
The success of Channel 7Two showing Saturday races on free-to-air this year proves that people will watch the races on TV and race crowd numbers will not have suffered during this time.
Surely it’s all about growing the audience and making it easy for people to enjoy their pastime.
Has anyone done a study into the "benefits" of switching off a whole audience of viewers to satisfy some short-term commercial imperative?
If they want the free-to-air coverage to be more enjoyable they could get rid of the boring presentations and run the show like we’ve been enjoying on Channel 7Two. Just racing.
Geelong West (Vic)