Get Off Your High Horse By Ron Allen
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There has been a lot of discussion lately about growing and marketing equestrian events and horse sports in general. It’s time to get off your high horse and deal with the harsh reality that only 1% of Americans own horses and inside that group only 10% of those horses are used in competitive sports.
That is an extremely narrow market compared to auto racing. 90% of Americans own at least one car. They can relate to driving and the high-speed excitement of racing. The F1 fan base is nearly 2 Billion.
Trying to replicate Formula Ones success in the horse industry is foolish. The F1 series on Netflix is in its 8th season while the POLO series on Netflix last year was a failure on so many levels. Bad behavior by one patron put the sport in a negative light and 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. Now they are trying to ’sell’ 16 goal as high goal in the U.S. while charging money to watch 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.