Racing urged to innovate to buck negative trend on attendances

Racing will need to continue to innovate and provide racegoers with memorable experiences to reverse the trend of declining attendances, according to Goodwood managing director Adam Waterworth.

Events such as concerts continue to act as a lure to come racing, with efforts increasingly being put into attracting more people to racecourses and to try convert them into repeat racegoers.

However, figures released by the Racecourse Association on Wednesday showed a fourth successive drop in the numbers going racing in Britain last year, although fixture cancellation and the equine flu outbreak were put forward as mitigating circumstances.

Those excuses aside, Waterworth believes he and his counterparts at other racecourses are having to work on attracting customers.

He said: “It feels a much harder challenge to get people racing and I feel that goes for a lot of my colleagues in the industry, you feel you have to pedal a lot harder to go the same speed.

“There are various reasons for that. Competition is bigger than it’s ever been and it’s not getting any easier on that front. We would have more crossover with cricket than any other sport in this area and speaking to them they would say the same.

“You have to innovate, you have to keep doing new things because it's difficult. I believe people still want to see a live event and having that experience is a draw to people, there’s just lots of them for people to do.”

More than 200,000 people went to Goodwood last year, with the music nights attracting sellout crowds of, or near to, 12,000, figures that have been consistent over the last three years.

Music concerts at racing are a popular tool to draw in crowdsCredit: Miles Willis

Using such events as a tool to get people racing should not be underestimated in Waterworth’s opinion, and he added: “I don’t think it can harm racing having nights like this. I can’t see how having a new group of 25- to 35-year-olds seeing the racecourse as a place that is fun and a place to spend their leisure pound is a bad thing.

“It’s our job to get them to come racing more, but often the main success is getting people to come racing in the first place.”

Drawing in a younger crowd was put forward as a key objective by Rod Street, chief executive of Great British Racing, the sport's marketing and promotional body, following the release of the attendance figures.

That view is supported by Ed Chamberlin, lead presenter for ITV Racing, which continues to give racing a terrestrial television platform to promote the sport to a wide audience range.

He said: “We want people to watch ITV Racing but I’m conscious that within that you’ll hear me saying ‘come racing’, and I would be hopeful that down the track racing would feel the benefits of the increase in viewing figures on ITV – it certainly can’t do any harm.

“Whenever I go racing I get encouraged by what I see. What we need to do now is to get the youngsters watching and engaging with the racing when they attend, to get up close to the horses and go to the stands and shout the horses home."

He added: "I don’t think enough people know that kids go free. That should be promoted more.”

Your view: what is behind falling racecourse attendances?

Ryan Clarkson
Most tracks are a rip-off to get in, a rip-off to buy a drink and a lot of tracks have started to alienate their core fan base by having silly gimmicks like appearances by DJs and Z-list celebrities etc.

Steven Evans
I've looked many times for Saturday tickets but with travel, entry and betting money its just too expensive for me and many other people.

James Andrews
It will continue in the same vein unless prices are reduced on everything. By the time you’ve got in and paid for something to eat and drink there’s barely anything left to bet with. Surely that’s what you’ve come for in the first place. Tracks will never learn.

Christopher Lamond
The challenge is ticket prices – some of them are an absolute joke. Surely more money would be made with £10 tickets, more people, more drinks consumed, more racecards bought. Seems a no-brainer to me.

Matty Wilkinson
Young people isn’t the issue, it’s racing being complacent of its core supporters and putting them to the back of queue, while corporate events, ladies' days, pleasing once or twice-a-year racegoers take priority. Has racing asked its core supporters why and done detailed research?

Joe Lane
1) Reduce entry cost for lower-class meetings.
2) Stop charging £15 for a burger and chips.
3) Do something for families at all meetings. Even if it's one person making balloon animals or face painting. It's enough to make the kids want to go then. Interest in the horses will follow.

Rob Hannigan
It’s often too expensive to go. My local course charges £30 per meeting and more for the popular ones.

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