On Saturday, America will pretend like they still care about horse racing; if only for a day. However, Churchill Downs in Louisville, where the Kentucky Derby will be run, doesn’t care about the media. The media still cares about Churchill Downs, and the Running of the Roses. However, Churchill Downs is not reciprocating this relationship.
FromFox Sports
Indeed, the “Who-Needs-the-Media” tour moves to Churchill Downs this week.
The fabled track actually one-upped the NCAA, which cut back 2/3s of the media floor seating for the basketball tournament. Churchill Down has done away with the whole idea of having a press box.
What had been the Joe Hirsch Media Center overlooking the track has been transformed into a high-rollers area renamed, “The Mansion at Churchill Downs.” The reason is simple: Money. According to Ray Paulick of Chicago Now,, the track figures to haul in $8 million over three years with the new luxury seating.
“Like any casino company, Churchill Downs Inc. now thinks in terms of revenue per square foot,” Paulick writes in an email. “The press box generated zero actual revenue, although it could be argued good press is worth something.”
Churchill Downs just slapped all my media friends right in the face with this.
Dude, it’s HORSE RACING!
People only care about your sport 2 days out of the entire year. NO ONE CARES the other 363. Be thankful for any press you can get.
And Sherman is right the NCAA also sold the media out, and damaged college basketball considerably by making a blatant revenue grab.
So what will become of the media at Churchill Downs? They’ll watch it on television, in a room that used to be corporate offices. EXCITING!
And there will be some media spots in the back of the grandstand; with questionable views of the finish line. Because hey, it’s not like you need to you know, see the finish of the race or anything, to write your story.
Horribly played Churchill Downs.
In a related story, NBC Universal, which broadcasts the Kentucky Derby, is going all in with their Derby coverage on all their networks. They’ll saturate you at the end of this week/weekend. Today Show Segments live from Churchill Downs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Weather Channel live from Churchill Downs on Friday and Saturday. CNBC live from Churchill Downs on Friday.
The shared vision of Churchill Downs and NBC Sports’ ‘Big Event Strategy’ to assemble the broadest possible audience led to the 2012 Kentucky Derby drawing 14.8 million viewers, the third most-watched Kentucky Derby in 23 years.
NBC properties including Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Access Hollywood, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, iVillage, Weather Channel and DailyCandy will all run Derby material between now and Saturday. In other words, the Peacock echo chamber will rinse and repeat the same message over and over.
And that my friends is why Churchill Downs no longer cares about the media. They have NBC to do all their marketing and promotion for them. It’s like a couple years ago when the Chicago Blackhawks threw out a ton of media who had been covering the team for years; even during the Hawks lean times of losing and very poor attendance.
The Blackhawks literally said “hey, we’re selling the place out now and we’re winning so we don’t need you anymore. Hey, thanks for coming!”
Churchill Downs is doing the same thing.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an Walter Football.com who also contributes regularly to Yardbarker, Twitter (@PaulMBanks), Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on Comcast SportsNet and the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)