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Epic fail.

A missed opportunity.

The NTRA Live! experiment, while well intentioned and a positive development, signifies the inadequacy of that organization's management capabilities, given the server meltdown.

With an eager audience and one clamoring for an opportunity to view its stars in an open medium, the NTRA underwhelmed in its promise to deliver anything worthy of this game. The shortsighted nature of this organization has become monotonous in its pathos.

I don't blame the IT department-and by department I hope I am not referring to Waldrop's nephew; trying to handle that amount of traffic on a Commodore Vic20 is an Augean task. I understand the NTRA is underfunded and probably short staffed-Alex Waldrop might want to consider cutting his salary to funnel cash to the server acquisition department-but to so disappoint a captive crowd heralds the time for this game to look elsewhere for its promotional wing.

It reminds me of the French revolutionary who looks upon a rushing crowd and says, 'There go my people, I must find out where they are heading, so I can lead them.'

Boolean query: Anyone with a Mac and a dotTv domain could have pulled this operation off with fewer glitches?

What would it take for a small yet dedicated cadre of knowledgeable individuals to form a legitimate marketing/promotional organization, at a fraction of NTRA's operating budget, to give this game the professional face it deserves?

Conan O'Brien is looking for work. He recently Twittered he was going to follow some random person and she went from three to over 20,000 followers!!

He has a captive audience and knows how to marshal it. Why not throw an obscene amount of money at him and have him host a weekly show? Get Randy Moss as the straight man-he can't be happy with the way ESPN is treating the game.

Signal rights and what not might be a challenge but if this past weekend proves anything, it is people want access to the game, will allocate their attention to it and follow it with their cash. Tracks should be champing at the bit to get their product out into the mainstream-don't they teach that in Marketing and Business 101?

This platform could allow tracks and the game at large to cater directly to the customer and provide them with what they want at marginal cost. This study, while probably biased, seems to indicate just that.

Maybe the NTRA will learn from this. Maybe they will beef up their servers or steal a Linksys connection from the local Starbucks. Maybe tracks will realize the potential for growth through cooperation and the free distribution of their signal.

Maybe they will connect on their next opportunity but maybe they don't have too many of those left.

Because if you miss enough of them, that's the ballgame.

Ansoff Matrixing

Last year, during the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game, Avatar teased its upcoming release on the crazy ass monitor they have in the stadium. The game was a nationally televised game on FOX and Brad, Terry, et. al. hyped it up during the pre-game. That alone made me not watch it.

John Pricci has a post concerning the lack of advertising for the R.A. v Z. match up. How the NTRA, the self proclaimed marketing branch of the game, might be so cash strapped to preclude its purchasing air time to promote the event.

Is it possible, right now, they might be rifling through the sofa cushions, looking for spare change to make a D-Daylike push to get the upcoming Secretariat movie in the mainstream? A crazy media blitz, with universal track support and a coordinated effort by racing jurisdictions to cash this ticket? Buying up air time during the KD broadcast?

If not, they should be.

Pooling resources

Under the umbrella of NTRA, lies NTRA Investments LLC.

Within the framework of what passes for inter-track agreements and ADW revenue distribution, lies a gaping hole the size of the game.

What is there to prevent NTRA Investments from finding a backer, say The Jockey Club or Sheikh Mohammed or Halsey Minor(what happened to him?), and co-signing a loan to start up an industry standard ADW-wholly owned by the NTRA? Since the NTRA is not-for profit, it could pool all the ADW wagers and distribute them according to source, without regard for its own profit. A central clearing house if you will.

The office gets to market the game as well as the gambling and has a say regarding the direction of the revenue stream.

Every track pays a fee or a contribution to enter into deal (much like they do now). NTRA (backed by the loan or whoever) agrees to match all source contributions, thereby doubling the pot.

All wagers are funneled back to the host tracks with an administrative fee assessed by the NTRA, say 1%, to cover stamps, and bolster the original pot. Since host tracks and wagering tracks are in the agreement, the allocation of revenue is agreed upon no matter the source. Laurel to Gulfstream or Yavapai to Belmont. It doesn't matter.

Tracks get their money and gamblers get to bet on whatever track they want without blackouts. NTRA could buy out an ADW with the loan or start their own and build it to compete. Get somebody who knows what they're doing. Franchise it, have one in every shopping mall. Dream BIG.

Use the recognition, such as it is, of the office to promote the game and the ADW and have a say in the integrity of the sport.

At the end of the year, the pooled money is distributed back to the tracks according to whatever metrics they want, based on all source revenue; or field size; or fatalities per start...whatever.

Say, for argument, ten tracks sign up and each pays in $50,000. The total pot, after matching, becomes $1,000,000 plus whatever additional monies result from the commingled ADW revenue pool. At the end of the year, if the money is distributed evenly, every track gets at least double their money back, which they could turn around and funnel back into the pool or use for purses or, say, I don't know, customer service amenities.

Get a big name sponsor, or any sponsor for that matter, to support the initiative and back the loan or even fund the matching up to a certain amount. They have exclusivity of marketing and the game gets a financial kick in the pants.

If tracks dispute the revenue sharing or the percentage of distribution, institute a system of punishment where revenue could be subtracted from the offending track but with a penalty commensurate to a third of the infraction on the plaintiff track.

So, if Gulfstream thinks Laurel, over the course of the year made out to the tune of $30,000 at their expense, it could petition to have Laurel's end of year distribution reduced by the 30k-Gulfstream would not get that money, it would just stay in the pool. In addition, for filing the complaint, Gulfstream's distribution would be reduced by a third of the stated amount, or 10k. This would prevent tracks from just frivolously bitch slapping each other around.

The initial stake is the thing. Who is going to back it?

But who wouldn't join it and why?

Stochastics

"Honesty is the best policy-when there is money in it."
-Mark Twain

I watched the Bears dominate the Eagles last night (hanging on, when you have blown two fourth quarter leads in the last two weeks is dominating in my book). One of the plays involved a hit on Orton and the ball coming loose as he was throwing. The ruling on the field was a fumble but then the replay overturned the decision-rightly so. Madden and Michaels noted, wryly, that the ref was the same ref who officiated the Raiders/Pats playoff game and the whole in the grasp, tuck, fumble fiasco that made a career and ruined a franchise. Just ask Al Davis.

A couple of players, from both teams, left the game with injuries and did not return; within ten minutes there were details on their injuries.

Why is horse racing, a game dependent on the availability of information, so mired in obfuscation? Any other game-hockey, football, baseball, basketball-has the officiating crew on display.

Why are the stewards not in the public view?

How hard would it be to take the chief steward and put him on the track, at the finish line or somewhere, in a tower? Technology is a wonderful thing and he/she could be in constant communication with the crew up in the "booth".

Trackus or something like it should be at every track.

How is it that the Jockey Club, in essence an organization of amanuenses, has such a stranglehold on the game? Record the name of the horse, add it to the list and shut the hell up. That would go a long way toward the "...improvement of thoroughbred breeding and racing."

Against all odds, this years Breeder's Cup is shaping up as a true display of the best of the breed. What if all the organizations in the game pooled some of their money and started buying time and space in the mainstream media. Take out a full-page ad in the Stupid Today. Advertise during primetime on the networks, NOT on TVG or HRTV. Spend some money. Do something.