Good Wednesday morning. Well, now that the current Horseman and Fair World magazine is hitting newstands, I am getting a lot of reaction from readers to my criticism of the makeup of the United States Trotting Association's new Marketing Committee. So it's time to share some of that feedback with you. Here are just two examples:
From Dave Liker: "I'm writing to let you know that your column about the USTA's new marketing advisory board is one that really resonated with me. Being based at The Meadows, I had to look no further than to see the name John Marshall on the list to know it was a joke. He has nothing to offer besides the same tired rhetoric. He can't even promote Meadows racing to the point that it is shown on the plasma TV's at the bar in the slots parlor two hundred yards away. And now the shuttle bus will no longer take patrons down the hill to the temporary trailers where they can bet on racing. I guess the whole thing is kind of like when we were growing up, we would let the kid who was awful play baseball with us because he had the ball. I applaud that you called them out on their selections."
From Mark Hunter: "Reading Andrew Cohen’s article in the May 28th issue initially led me to want to echo his opinion, but stepping back, I felt that I needed to provide an alternative or I really should not talk. I too am a supporter of Ivan Axelrod’s efforts to develop a marketing committee. Yes, looking at the committee members, I too am skeptical that we have created the right team to define a path for growing our customer base. Not because of the individuals and their past performance, but because of how they have naturally competing objectives....
"We must create an entity that has a sole purpose of promoting harness racing. It is not the Track’s fault that we are segmented, but we must step back and realize that we are. Tracks are required to compete against one another for the gambling dollar. In essence we are fighting with ourselves. It should be reasonable to have a portion of the Track’s marketing budget allocated to the overall growth of the industry and a portion to the specific growth of the Track. Good luck Ivan and the new marketing committee in helping us take some initial steps to a better future."
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