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Festival Changes

Vautour said:
Personally, I can’t understand why anyone would want a 5 day festival as I think the quality of the racing has already been diluted too much.i would prefer to see fewer races - 4 days of 6 races would be better.
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I don't disagree but the festival is a beast these days and marketing value for a fifth day would be huge, and of course this wouldn't dilute the festival further as they'd simply reduce each day to six races, add the mares chase and the long overdue Veterans chase.
My first full festival (3 days) was 1990, the Gold Cup crowd that day was around 30,000, compare that to where we are now.
And consider the impact an extra day would have on the local economy, but as it doesn't seem to be on the agenda we can ignore this for the time being...
 
Should move it to Wednesday - Saturday
Or even Tuesday & Wednesday Old Course and Friday & Saturday New course. With a day of rest in between.

And the Best race of the day should be ran last or at the very least second last, around 4-50 5pm ish.

Miles better for promoting the sport and sponsorship etc etc.
 
If the changes to 4 miler dont work it could get shifted to April imo. From a welfare point of view can see a case for one of amateur races disappearing.
 
Old Vic said:
If the changes to 4 miler dont work it could get shifted to April imo. From a welfare point of view can see a case for one of amateur races disappearing.
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Good point about the April meet, wouldn't be too surprised to see whatever race is dropped become the feature during that April meet
 
quevega said:
Should move it to Wednesday - Saturday
Or even Tuesday & Wednesday Old Course and Friday & Saturday New course. With a day of rest in between.

And the Best race of the day should be ran last or at the very least second last, around 4-50 5pm ish.

Miles better for promoting the sport and sponsorship etc etc.
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Would the Gold Cup be better in a Saturday? You're competing with the EPL. At least on a Friday it is the main event of the day.
 
Faugheen_Machine said:
Would the Gold Cup be better in a Saturday? You're competing with the EPL. At least on a Friday it is the main event of the day.
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No argument is there ?
Most people are at work on a friday at 3-40, except hardcore fans of racing.
Saturday at 5PM would massively broaden the appeal for marketing, TV and audience availability.

Gold cup peak viewing 2019 approx 1.6 million.
Grand national 2019 approx 10.2 million.
 
quevega said:
No argument is there ?
Most people are at work on a friday at 3-40, except hardcore fans of racing.
Saturday at 5PM would massively broaden the appeal for marketing, TV and audience availability.

Gold cup peak viewing 2019 approx 1.6 million.
Grand national 2019 approx 10.2 million.
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I don't think the Gold Cup has the same pull as the Grand National.

Most people in my office watch and have a bet on the Grand National but I've never heard any of them mention that they watched the Derby. I think it'd be the same with the Gold Cup.

Viewing figures would improve but if United beat City on the same afternoon there'd only be one story making the headlines.
 
Derby viewing figures 1.75M for a Saturday 4.30 start. The National is totally different to any other race so it's a false comparison. I'd hate to see a Saturday Cheltenham as it would be just another race day.

Because you're in mid-March, the light can be an issue late afternoon and I wouldn't have any chase scheduled for 5.00 or later. There's an argument that the whole schedule should be moved forward by 30 or even 60 minutes but I absolutely wouldn't want the feature race later than 4.30 because of the difficulties in exiting the track and then travelling any distance in peak evening traffic.
 
Faugheen_Machine said:
I don't think the Gold Cup has the same pull as the Grand National.

Most people in my office watch and have a bet on the Grand National but I've never heard any of them mention that they watched the Derby. I think it'd be the same with the Gold Cup.

Viewing figures would improve but if United beat City on the same afternoon there'd only be one story making the headlines.
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If you read between the lines of what you’ve said then you’d see that Saturday would make a massive difference.
People watching is more important than headlines.
 
archie said:
Derby viewing figures 1.75M for a Saturday 4.30 start. The National is totally different to any other race so it's a false comparison. I'd hate to see a Saturday Cheltenham as it would be just another race day.

Because you're in mid-March, the light can be an issue late afternoon and I wouldn't have any chase scheduled for 5.00 or later. There's an argument that the whole schedule should be moved forward by 30 or even 60 minutes but I absolutely wouldn't want the feature race later than 4.30 because of the difficulties in exiting the track and then travelling any distance in peak evening traffic.
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The light issue is a possible issue. Agree with that.
The last point about exiting the track is a selfish one. Major sporting events that want maximum tv audience aren’t gonna cater for people being late for tea cos of traffic,
If I had my way, they’d run the gold cup at the end of my garden.
 
The point is that, if you run the feature race as 4th out of 7, people gradually make their way out over the course of the last 3 races which makes it easier for everyone travelling long distances. Leaving the course straight after the Foxhunters this year, we got home (North Wales) at about 20.45. Damn right it's selfish not wanting to spend a 5th night in a hotel at Festival prices. It's also selfish to want a race on a Saturday so you don't have to take time off work.
It will never happen again but the 'good old days' of travelling down Monday afternoon, 3 great and undiluted days racing and home Friday morning was the exact right balance.
 
archie said:
The point is that, if you run the feature race as 4th out of 7, people gradually make their way out over the course of the last 3 races which makes it easier for everyone travelling long distances. Leaving the course straight after the Foxhunters this year, we got home (North Wales) at about 20.45. Damn right it's selfish not wanting to spend a 5th night in a hotel at Festival prices. It's also selfish to want a race on a Saturday so you don't have to take time off work.
It will never happen again but the 'good old days' of travelling down Monday afternoon, 3 great and undiluted days racing and home Friday morning was the exact right balance.
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It’s not selfish if the majority want it.
Racing’s golden age when it was one of the few televised sports available on one of the three main channels is long gone.
Reaching a wider audience is vital to protect everything about the sport we love.
The more people in racing that remain in the past and don’t adapt then the more at risk it will become.
The grand national is an institution and I have no doubt that the gold cup would be closer to this if it’d been held on a Saturday for the last 50 years.
Viewing figures for all big races and sporting events have steadily fallen simply because of the choices available these days.
 
Faugheen_Machine said:
Would the Gold Cup be better in a Saturday? You're competing with the EPL. At least on a Friday it is the main event of the day.
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The bigger event on that Saturday is the final round of 6 Nations games where all three are played back to back to back.
Midlands National day would pretty much die too...
 
quevega said:
If you read between the lines of what you’ve said then you’d see that Saturday would make a massive difference.
People watching is more important than headlines.
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It wouldn't be anywhere near 10 million viewers though, probably not even above 2 million.

I hope they keep it as a four day festival Tues - Fri but I fear they will move it at some point in the future.
 
Istabraq said:
The bigger event on that Saturday is the final round of 6 Nations games where all three are played back to back to back.
Midlands National day would pretty much die too...
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If racing has to worry about competition from rugby union then we’re all fucked.
And are you serious about the midlands national ?
 
Faugheen_Machine said:
It wouldn't be anywhere near 10 million viewers though, probably not even above 2 million.

I hope they keep it as a four day festival Tues - Fri but I fear they will move it at some point in the future.
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Obviously not near 10 million. Granted.
I personally don’t care about it being on Saturday either apart from racing itself being able to thrive and survive.
I work 2 hours a day in a morning then spend rest of day watching racing and cooking wife’s tea for when she’s back from work
 
quevega said:
It’s not selfish if the majority want it. No proof that the majority want it.
Racing’s golden age when it was one of the few televised sports available on one of the three main channels is long gone. Agree.
Reaching a wider audience is vital to protect everything about the sport we love. Disagree.
The more people in racing that remain in the past and don’t adapt then the more at risk it will become.Disagree.
The grand national is an institution and I have no doubt that the gold cup would be closer to this if it’d been held on a Saturday for the last 50 years. Strongly disagree. Why is the Derby TV audience only 1.75M?
Viewing figures for all big races and sporting events have steadily fallen simply because of the choices available these days. Exactly, so how is putting the big race on when every other sport is on going to help?
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archie said:
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I can’t prove the majority would want it but I’d bet on it.
The points you’ve disagreed on without reasoning speaks for itself.
Although the point you strongly disagree with cannot be proved by either of us. I’d imagine a poll amongst racing fans would rank the gold cup ahead of the national and see no reason why the general racing public would differ if both races had received equal exposure over the years.
The derby viewing figures issue has been answered in my overall comment around the increased competition racing is fighting
. So is a mute point.
Your last point relates to available audience.
If you want to sell tickets for something then you’ve a better chance when there’s more people in the room.
 
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