- This topic has 70 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 5 months ago by
.
- Posts
I think most of us are more or less agreed that the BBC deserve some degree of censure for their virtual abandonment of the sport, but there’s the other side of the question, namely, what can racing do, and in what ways does it need to change, in order to make itself more attractive to the BBC?
There still seems to be a feeling prevalent within racing that it’s doing the BBC a big favour by permitting it to cover the sport.
We can’t put the clock back 50 years, or to whenever some supposed Golden Age existed.
Racing needs to do a bit of reinventing of itself if it’s to survive as a significant part of the UK sporting scene.
I have long thought that it needs to sell itself as a serious sport which is an real mental but fascinating challenge for followers. It has for far too long been associated with the "nobs" and "yobs" and hasnt done enough to shake off this image. It needs to go for the middle class and maybe even middle aged pound, which is jaded with the rather knee jerk emotions of football (which you grow out of)
The pitch on TV should be along the lines of C4. C4 cricket that is, not C4 racing
It also needs to distance itself from the clubby countryside insiders image which is not greatly appealing
No need to dump some of the more frivoulous elements of coverage and it neednt be as specialist as the excllent RUK, but needs to pitch itself more professionally
I have long thought that it needs to sell itself as a serious sport which is an real mental but fascinating challenge for followers. It has for far too long been associated with the "nobs" and "yobs" and hasnt done enough to shake off this image. It needs to go for the middle class and maybe even middle aged pound, which is jaded with the rather knee jerk emotions of football (which you grow out of)
The pitch on TV should be along the lines of C4. C4 cricket that is, not C4 racing
I agree entirely, C4 cricket is a very good example of how an "established" sport should be covered in a way that is both stimulating and different, without throwing away all the heritage bit.
When Channel 4 did the Cricket they had Big Screens in various City Centres and indeed Liverpool does this with the National as it knows the race is part of its History and Culture.
In the weeks before the likes of Cheltenham,Epsom,Aintree,Goodwood,York,Newmarket why not take the product out to the big cities and get adverts on television,radio even Youtube to get more exposure.
Family days at courses are always popular and making low grade racedays as Ladies Days always get the crowds in and plus the crowds at Cartmel are always huge
Matt Chapman for example wrote a good piece in the Post a few weeks ago about having a Charity Day and calling it "Race Aid" which is a fantastic idea and if done right would be a huge boost for charities and for racing itself.
If they got people like Ant n Dec to host it and have 6-7 races on a mixed card with the top Flat and Jump Jocks and even have a celebrity race with either ITV or C4 to show it followed by a Charity Football game and make it into One huge day of Sport then we could race money for Charites and help bring the sport to a new audience.
And as regarding forum writers thinking that racing is a basis for the Pro Fox Hunting Brigade then you may aswell say that Darts should be banned as it is a good advert for Alcohol and Smoking as that is what people would associate that with and in the sameway Snooker.
Every so often a footballer will get caught up either cheating on his wife,rape allegations,group sex or having a drink/drug problem so in that case ban all football from TV as that could lead people for example who watch Chelsea and see Ashley Cole could then think that Wife Cheating is ok as he did it and got forgiven.
Neil Watson wrote:
"Every so often a footballer will get caught up either cheating on his wife,rape allegations,group sex or having a drink/drug problem…"
Surely that’s a regular Friday night by anyone’s standards?
Zippy
Let the BBC rot (slowly, please…) on the vine IMO.
For better or worse we are a minority sport- and sadly (given the chippy political demographic of the BBC rainmakers, who launch fortunes into the pockets of Jonathan Ross and Bruce Forsyth without a second thought) one enjoyed by ‘Toffs’
(En passant- RIP the erudite Ed Stourton- deemed ‘too posh’ to present on Radio 4…… FFS).
Let’s face it, most of us who post here are aficionadios of the sport, and quite likely to be able to access ATR or RUK online, on in our living rooms. Willie Carson won’t be a tragic loss to our lives.
I mouthed off in here on Sunday night about the travesty that was Sue Barker’s utterly pathetic coverage of racing (both codes, 53 seconds) during SPOTY. I take nothing back- they, the BBC, are a smug, PC joke.
Mouth off- Calm Down- Move on.
Bye bye Beeb; hope you enjoy squandering my licence fee on pathetic dancing competitions with implausible phone-in votes, Dr. Who and Cee Beebies.
BBC has not been remotely interested in racing since they managed to persuade Sir Peter to retire (he probably prolonged things 5-7 years, and for that, hats off).
Hope C4 pick up the best bits, but at the end of the proverbial day, we’ll all get our fix from the specialist channels.
Hope C4 pick up the best bits, but at the end of the proverbial day, we’ll all get our fix from the specialist channels.
You really don’t get it, do you?
If they got people like Ant n Dec to host it and have 6-7 races on a mixed card with the top Flat and Jump Jocks and even have a celebrity race with either ITV or C4 to show it followed by a Charity Football game and make it into One huge day of Sport then we could race money for Charites and help bring the sport to a new audience.
Oh no pleeeeeeeeeease
Racing is a victim of corporate greed and the relentless grind towards mediocrity driven by the bookies is slowly killing any public interest in the sport.
The BBC is obsessed with delivering low quality offal to fill up it’s unwatched digital channels that nobody asked for. RIP the BBC.
Racing has been a sport in decline as long as I’ve known it and I’m surprised that people are surprised by this decision. Its core audience is literally dieing out.
I think it’s last chance of survival in the mainstream was betfair attracting fresh blood to it, with the offer of rewarding those who put in the effort and got involved. With that offer now withdrawn the message that its just one big scam is coming over loud and clear.
It’s not even promoted as a sport in its own right any more. Someone mentioned the scant coverage of Kauto Star v Denman in the Gold Cup on SPOTY. Well, you can rest assured it will get scanter next year.
Last season Kauto was going for the million bonus – there was a genuine thread of interest weaving its way through the season. Fast foward to this season and we have Kauto again lining up for the Betfair Chase again, but he’s not really going for the million this time, because he made the mistake of winning it before and you’re not supposed to win in this game. You’re supposed to be lured by the prospect of winning but actually winning money is a distinctly bad show. So the BF million has been changed to be unwinnable.
Still, we had all eyes on Kauto…..or at least they would have if fifteen rats running round Huntingdon weren’t being given presedence and other, more important races to the betting industry, weren’t clashing with the race, meaning many wouldn’t have even seen the Betfair Chase.
How can racing be taken seriously as a sport when the sole over-riding concern is that punters must lose? Who is going to view it as anything but a racket when a fifteen runner handicap of third raters is showcased over the Blue Riband event of the early season for the sole reason that punters are more likely to pick the loser?
Yeats,
I’m not referring to the costs of the rights, but the cost of producing the program. Because of the OB costs, that figure is going to make the cost per 1000 viewers (or whatever statistic they use) higher than for most other sports.
2 million pounds a year, have the BBC posted how much per 1000 viewers different sports cost? Is it the deciding factor? Should it be? Would have thought the National & Derby come out very well on that basis and should be able to carry other meetings on their backs.
How much per 1000 listeners did the R5 racing bulletin cost or per 1000 readers the racing ceefax service?
I’ve no reason to believe it’s not just down to personal preferences of those making the decisions, as was said in the Racing Post horse racing is dirt cheap.
Paul Fox, an ex managing director of the BBC and controller of BBC1 says the BBC is being disloyal to racing.Racing has been a sport in decline as long as I’ve known it and I’m surprised that people are surprised by this decision. Its core audience is literally dieing out.
I think you’re being unduly pessimistic.
I can remember reading articles in the 1960s where similar views were being voiced.
If those predictions had come to pass, there’d be virtually nobody under the age of 90 following the sport.
A nonsensical and overly pessimistic point of view, Glenn, I suggest you take a week or two off from the computer and go out and smell the flowers.
Some of the meetings I went to this year were absolutely rammed and this year’s levy has stood up well. Racing has a phenomenally loyal following. No matter what privations owners suffer, they somehow find the cash to buy horses (Wafic Said, who left racing years ago is now back, for example). Trainers mortgage themselves to infinity for another pop despite it allegedly being an impossible game to make pay. Punters foreswear the turf on a nightly basis and still read the paper back to front the following morning.
Once it gets in your blood, it gets in your blood which is why Aunty shouldn’t be excluding us.
And this myth about an ageing audience needs spearing. On my trips to Doncaster, for example, I felt old. Newmarket too – and this idea that the young lads don’t bet is also a myth. They may not bet like professionals with big money, but they bet every race. I know football lads who can’t wait for the season to end to get back racing.
Ironically, the current object of Aunty’s affections, motor sport, is disintegrating because of the world economic crisis; rallying (the exit of Subaru), superbikes, (Honda America withdrawing) and the bewildering F1 (massive cost cutting) are all feeling the pinch.
Racing will still be here long after we’re all staring at the beech lid. Let’s not talk it down too much.
Does anyone actually have viewing figures for the BBC coverage outside of the Derby, Royal Ascot and Grand National?
True, but it is still very much a minority sport which has found it impossible to break into the mainstream save The National and The Derby
Define minority sport, firefox. My definition is synchronised swimming or sprint cycling, not a sport followed by three million people. I’d love to know the aggregate attendance at race meetings for last year. I’ll bet its second only to football.
But David Johnson has had to liquidised half his string along with Duncan Davidson.
Wafic Said sold all his broodmares, relinquished all his sponsorships and sold every single one of his horses in training in 2001. He’s back – I’ve no doubt Davidson and Johnson will be too.
My point is, the Wafic Saids’, the David Johnsons’ and the Duncan Davidsons’ of the future are helped by BBC coverage rather than by satellite which is very much preaching to the converted.
And I find myself amazingly impassioned. I’m no fan of BBC TV in general (I don’t mind radio and the website), so I have to take this into account, but I really could throw someone under the King’s horse over this cause. Seething, I tell you…
Nobody is questioning that. It benefits from a very generous and some may argue unjust income stream from the bookies.
Then give racing back to the 3.5 million. Historically, without racing the retail bookie would be selling brushes or breaking kneecaps in the street. If they don’t want us anymore, then give us a pari-mutuel.
We can stand on our own two feet and OUR BBC can help us do so.
Do you think if the BBC still had all the International Rugby, International and Premiership Football and Cricket live racing would even get a look in?
Probably not, I grant that. But give me the keys to the BHA and I’ll fight like a demon to equalise the playing field. I look at some of the dispassionate chinless wonders representing this sport and it’s no wonder Aunty’s casting her eyes at quiffed footballers, interior decorators, thuggish rappers and insensible cooks. Rugby exciting? Yeh, right! Cricket? Er, sporadically.
And a match between Wigan and Blackburn is every second as dull as a Class 6 from Kempton. All the elitist BBC want is an endless cycle of Man Utd v Arsenal. But if you watched that every week you would soon be reaching for the arsenic. You need your Wigans and you need your Blackburns to give it context. By the same token, to appreciate the Derby and the National, you have to watch the Dante and the Becher.
Getting people engaged in something is all in the marketing. It’s about getting people buzzing. We don’t do that as a sport.
Getting people engaged in something is all in the marketing. It’s about getting people buzzing. We don’t do that as a sport.
People dont engage with animals Max, never have, never will. They engage with betting and a day out on a Saturday. 3.5 million going racing every year after the courses have had their cut isnt even a drop in the ocean when it comes to funding horseracing.
Self delusion, heads up arses, fawning guff, harking for the past, unnecessary and unhelpful swipes at other sports have been racings answer this week.
What about a campaign to sort their website out.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.