Growing Horse Sports
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By Ron Allen
There has been a lot of discussion recently about growing and marketing equestrian events and horse sports in general. The harsh reality is only 1% of Americans own horses and inside that group only 10% of those horses are used in competitive sports.
This is an extremely narrow market compared to auto racing. 90% of Americans own at least one car. They can relate to driving. The F1 fan base is nearly 2 Billion.
This is an extremely narrow market compared to auto racing. 90% of Americans own at least one car. They can relate to driving. The F1 fan base is nearly 2 Billion.
Trying to replicate Formula 1s success in the horse industry is foolish. Their series on Netflix is in its 8th season. The POLO series on Netflix was a failure on so many levels. Bad behavior by one patron put the sport in a negative light. The lack of a real story line didn’t help.
It’s an uphill battle to try a grow something that sports fans have zero interest in. Polo in particular is still stuck in the “That’s the way we’ve always done it” mode. Leadership has failed its members on so many levels. They are trying to ’sell’ 16 goal as high goal in the U.S. while charging money to watch an amateur streaming of the matches.
The future of horse sports is more about survival than expansion. Professional leadership is the key for polo to survive, not volunteers. I’m interested in your thoughts.