Harness Racing Trumped by the Jumpers

The powers that be in standardbred racing must be shaking their heads over the news that the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) and NBC Universal have have signed a three year contract for NBC Universal to televise a Breeders Cup-type championship consisting of twelve races being held at Far Hills, New Jersey and Great Meadow Racecourse in the Plains in Virginia with the races being held this year on October 17. While wagering will not be offered at these sites, the NSA is in the process of talking to ADWs and simulcast sites in the United States and Europe to have them offer wagering. The broadcast will consist of a total of twelve races with each location having six races; alternating between the two locations. The total purses for all twelve races will be $700,000 with the biggest purse being a $250,000 race.

NBC Universal has committed to five hours of television coverage which will also include online and broadband coverage. Whether the racing will be shown on NBC or on one or more of the NBC owned cable channels remains to be seen; my guess is being this event occurs during the college football season the broadcast will be on their cable channels.

Here is the kicker. To get the $1.5 million dollar Hambletonian on television, the Hambletonian Society and The Meadowlands split the production costs to put the broadcast together. The steeplechase championships? NBC Universal and NSA will split the production costs and share the potential profits.

While it will be interesting to see how this arrangement works out and to see how well it is received by the public, the standardbred industry must rethink our approach to getting on television. Perhaps the approach being taken by the NSA is the model we should be using. Depending on how the steeplechase championships is received this year maybe we should have the 2010 Breeders Crown races moved to a different date (currently it is scheduled for the evening of the thoroughbred championships) and seek a similar arrangement for broadcasting the Breeders Crown races. The Hambletonian? Maybe paying to get the race on the NBC broadcast network is not the way to go; perhaps showing the entire Hambletonian Day card using the steeplechase approach is better. More importantly, we need to wonder how harness racing got trumped by the jumpers; why do the jumpers have the foresight needed to be innovative while we spin our wheels unable to get more exposure for our industry? We have some soul searching to do.

It will be interesting how the NSA/NBC Universal deal plays out this year. It will be more interesting to see how the standardbred industry responds.