Practical wisdom is the combination of moral will and moral skill.
-Aristotle
In aviation, there is a maxim, 'You're only as good as your dumbest competitor.'
The race to the bottom is frantic and pervasive. Nobody is willing to charge what it actually costs to get that plane from point A to point B because the other guy is going to undercut you and take your market share, so the miasma of mediocrity suffuses the friendly skies.
The racing industry is no different.
Purses are nice and owners like them to be bigger. Handle covers purses but handle comes from bettors. Bettors like full fields because they provide value and need it in this game, burdened as it is with taxes. Tracks like big purses because they attract more horses and in theory increase handle but don't want to pay for them. The tracks, seeking a profit, thus might cut purses when handle declines. States and communities don't like tracks but they like taxing them; when receipts fall, governments, unable to balance a checkbook, seek to raise taxes to maintain revenue. There is no Pareto optimum.
We dance around the issues, ignoring the fact the music has stopped and the band is packing up. States and tracks cannibalize each other for that last scrap of handle. Casinos and slots are thrown around as the panacea and nobody is thinking of the fundamental problems. Transfusions only keep a bleeding patient alive for so long; eventually the blood runs out. The symptom needs to be addressed and yet, it is escaping the conversation.
Why is horse racing given short shrift? Because the perception of the industry is of an unethical group of social misfits, lying, stealing and drugging their way to the top.
The first thing to come to mind is gambling, and gambling translates to moral turpitude. For all intents and purposes, we might as well be on the deck of the Exxon Valdez; smoking a crack pipe, watching porn, clubbing baby seals-when we aren't injecting them with cobra venom, hoping to cash in on the natatory daily double.
The industry does itself no favors by perpetuating the stereotype and urging people to come out to the track and cash in on a longshot. Catering to the lowest common denominator is not a sustainable practice.
Instead of selling what is good and wholesome about the game, they peddle the exact product putting people off.
Buddhism teaches the Noble Eightfold Path. (I am sure there are other practices out there)
- Right View
- Right Intention
- Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration
Ray Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Interface, Inc., the worlds largest manufacturer of commercial floor coverings, describes his corporate identity change here.
" ... Business is the largest, wealthiest, most pervasive institution on Earth, and responsible for most of the damage. It must take the lead in directing the Earth away from collapse, and toward sustainability. ... "
If a manufacturing giant, dealing with chemicals and petroleum, can undertake the goal of creating a sustainable corporate culture, surely a pastoral game can do the same.
The Malden Mills factory burned down on December 11th 1995, CEO Aaron Feuerstein decided to not only use his insurance money to rebuild the factory, but also to continue paying the salaries of all the now-unemployed workers while the factory was being rebuilt. By going against common CEO business practices, especially at a time when most companies were downsizing and moving overseas, he achieved a small degree of fame. [1] Wikipedia
Will Magna do the same?
Money is fungible and while members of congress might not understand that concept, they do understand a sound bite. Perhaps changing the argument from 'We want slots to increase purses.' to 'We want slots to fund drug testing and after care for jockeys and thoroughbreds.' might grab their attention.
Tracks should be investing in recycling and green energy; sustainability is the new black.
Tracks should become corporate citizens, stewards of the community and develop outreach programs. The demographics, while discouraging at first blush, can be used to advantage. Institute programs where AARP members can host their meetings and receive discounts. Create big brother/sister days. Have the elderly partner with the next generation and learn from each other. Build yourself a future customer and the elderly can learn what ROFLMAO means.
Bring librarians to the track and put them to good use, showing you how to run a community resource on limited funds, while maybe cashing in the occasional exacta.
No politician is going to look good trying to raise taxes on, or shutting down, outreach centers.
Horses will still run and bettors will still curse the jockeys for getting shut off at the rail. The game will not change, but without some thought into what exactly racing is doing as an entity, it might just go away.
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5 comments:
That's it! Somebody, Frank, maybe? Anyone, needs to hire you.
Legalize pot and sell it at the track. This will raise taxes, raise money for the track operators, and contribute to a happy mellow crowd.
What I ask you dear fellow is wrong with that.?
I've always wanted to open a night club with the name "Baby Seals"...
Great stuff as always WG. The times are changing, we move or become obsolete.
Oh, Wise and Wonderful Wind Gatherer, thanks for the shout out! You've reminded me of something Guy Browning once wrote: "Libraries are brothels for the mind. Which means that librarians are the madams, greeting punters, understanding their strange tastes and needs, and pimping their books." Surely tracks could use some of that pimping mojo right now.
It's surprising how much good stuff is happening, but it hasn't yet filtered through to change the general perception of the game. Anti-slaughter and thoroughbred retirement efforts are underway all over the place. Drug rules are getting tougher, and enforcement is getting better, though not fast enough. And there are people in the game who care.Just to take one example I know something about (I'm on the Board of Directors of the NY Thoroughbred Horsemen's Ass'n), horsemen in NY used 0.5% of their purse money this year to buy new steroid- and other drug testing equipment for the state lab at Cornell, and beginning next year, that money will be going to beef up the backstretch workers' health care program, which is already the best in the nation. And we're doing that while we continue to lose, on average, 50 cents out of every dollar we put into the game. There are stories out there that need to be told.
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