The old Arlington Park later was destroyed by fire and most recently the new Arlington Park closed, falling victim to competition.
Today, of course, the tracks are up against it as the sports horizon widens: more professional teams, increasing recreational activities, the lotteries and casino boats.
There is an organization that's trying to reverse the tide and unite the industry. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is developing and implementing a comprehensive marketing plan as well as pursing a national television strategy. The NTRA, after conducting TV viewer studies, on-track interviews and phone surveys last year, learned:
*People either extremely or very interested in racing who visited tracks declined by about five percent in 1997 compared to 1985 while those who had been to the races but skipped the horses that past year plummeted 30 percent.
*The highest unfavorable reactions to racing cited gambling, 30 percent; abused animals, 12 percent; and injuries to horses and jockeys, 13 percent.
*People living near a track who went to the races declined from 26 percent in 1985 to 14 percent in 1997.
The NTRA's "Go Baby Go" commercials on TV, however, appear to be making inroads. In non-racing markets, interest in racing increased 14.8 percent, according to Market Consensus Surveys and the ESPN/Chilton Sports Poll, while awareness of the slogan jumped 8 percent.
And negative reactions to racing as an entertainment option were halved to 17 percent when target customers were exposed to NTRA ads, Hall & Partners found.
"The advertising is working," said Steve Bowen, of Merkley Newman Harty of New York, NTRA's ad agency that created the strategy. "The research showed that these (TV) spots change the way people think about racing, which is precisely what they are intended to do."
I'm hoping many of these people belong to the younger set.
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