Why the Breeders Cup should go back to NBC

[DickHertz]

You can't promote your product to the masses with only a couple of hours on network TV. Whoever made the decision to go with ESPN/ABC should be fired. The difference between the two broadcasts is about 800,000 US TV Households.

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Television ratings for the Oct. 24-25 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park were up slightly from a year ago, according to ABC/ESPN figures.

For the first time, the two-day event was broadcast on three separate channels, with the Friday., Oct. 24 Ladies Day card carried on ESPN2, and the Saturday, Oct. 25 races telecast first on ABC and then on ESPN.

ABC/ESPN reported final national ratings for the nine-plus hours of coverage over the two days of .7, up 11% from a .6 rating in 2007. Since the Breeders’ Cup moved to the ESPN family of channels in 2006, television ratings have remained well below the numbers reported by NBC, which previously televised the event. In 2005, for instance, NBC reported a 1.7 rating for its Breeders’ Cup coverage.

Ratings for the Friday telecast on ESPN2 came in at .3. For the ABC portion of Saturday’s telecast from 1-3:30 p.m. EDT, the program registered a 1.0 rating. From 3:30-7:15 p.m. on ESPN, the rating was .9. In 2007, the Saturday telecast on ESPN came in at .8.

ABC/ESPN claimed a total audience number of 19,776,000 that watched some portion of this year’s telecast, up from 12,237,000 a year ago, though those numbers are believed to be much higher than the viewership that watched the entire programs. About 1.56 million such viewers watched ABC’s portion of Saturday’s telecast, and 1.2 million viewers saw ESPN’s part of that day’s telecast.

Friday's card on ESPN2 drew an average of 356,000 viewers.

NBC's last Breeders' Cup telecast in 2005 attracted about 2 million viewers.

[Aussie_Dog]

Canadians have been saying this for years, as we can't get ESPN in Canada. We got lucky this year as our TSN network was kind enough to get the ESPN feed (so we got all 9 hours over the 2 days). They tried to get it last year but they were too late to get it into the schedule (something like that).

Some ESPN lovers have tried to say that ESPN is a wise choice because it's geared for sports fans and thus racing won't lose any viewership. Huh, that worked.

[Glimmerglass]

ESPN/ABC signed with the Breeders' Cup an eight year deal to exclusively carry the event. So that means NBC couldn't get it back - if they won the bidding - until the 2014 Cup. NBC Sports reportedly did not bid on the BC when the contract was up as their execs were unhappy with the year-over-year ratings declines.

Now the BC *might* have a means to break the Disney agreement if they had put in ratings minimums or other exit clauses based upon key requirements, but I have to say I doubt they were that bright in the dealmaking department.

If you think it cannot get worse keep in mind that ABC has hinted it could even move the Belmont over to ESPN. NYRA should burn in hell for breaking away from Triple Crown Productions makreting the three-races as a single deal to be aired only on one of the big three netwroks.

Here is a quote that now after a few years is laughable:

“There’s no financial loss to racing from the switch to cable, and a pretty encouraging list of potential advantages.” While NBC did “minimal promotion for the event, ESPN is likely to treat it as a more valued piece of programming. ... The content and quality of the telecast is likely to improve sharply.”

ESPN is also “far more wagering-friendly than NBC, which has fought tying the telecast to a wagering platform.”

And who made those remarks? Steven Crist of the Daily Racing Form, 4/29/06

[Glimmerglass]

TVG and a Big-Three network can coexist with broadcasting the Breeders' Cup but clearly TVG is solidifying their domination of coverage. I'm still in strong support of getting portions of the BC back onto non-cable tv. TVG caters to a totally different consumers then the average-joe who might find racing of interest on NBC or ABC ...

BloodHorse 7-16-09 "Breeders' Cup, TVG Reach Agreement" (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51704/breeders-cup-tvg-reach-agreement)

Excerpt ...

The Breeders' Cup and TVG announced July 16 a multi-year agreement renewing TVG as an official media partner of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. As part of the agreement, TVG will remain the exclusive marketing partner in the ADW category and become title sponsor of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT).

TVG will produce the Breeders' Cup Simulcast Show, a live broadcast of the two-day Championships, which is distributed to more than 2,000 off track and simulcast wagering outlets worldwide.

TVG will provide on-site and enhanced day-long coverage of four domestic races and one international Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying race in the Mile division: the Aug. 29 Del Mar Mile; Sept. 20 Woodbine Mile; Oak Tree Mile, and Shadwell Turf Mile, both on Oct. 10; and the Sept. 26 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in England.

[Larksmom]

And I had such high hopes. ESPN used to do a BANG UP job of covering racing. [except for letting ANYTHING run long into it's coverage,:mad:] They had great commentors, and Randy Moss is as good as anty of them at TVG or HRTV. But the minute, it seems that they got the BC, it seems as if they have totally forgotten what racing is all about.
They cover it rarely now, and when they do, it is so frustrating, I usually slip back to TVG. I also think it is a terrible iddea to split up the TC coverage as well. It seems to me they finally realised they had real competition now with racing having two count'em 2 racing channels. I am coming upon having horse racing channels for three years now, and i don't want to ever be with out TVG again!