Breeders' Cup, seeking sponsors, hires marketing group

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. has hired Front Row Marketing Services to take on the company’s efforts to obtain sponsorship and marketing deals with corporate partners, the Breeders’ Cup announced on Tuesday.

The deal comes after sponsorship revenue for the Breeders’ Cup dropped 46 percent for the 2012 event compared to the 2011 event, according to Breeders’ Cup’s annual reports. For the past several years, Breeders’ Cup has attempted to reach sponsorship and marketing agreements using in-house staff, according to Breeders’ Cup spokesperson Jim Gluckson.

The Breeders’ Cup’s former vice president of sales, Carter Carnegie, who had been with the company for 10 years, resigned in mid-2012 after 10 years in his position. Recently, Carnegie was hired as the “international executive” for Great Britain Racing International, which was formed by British racing constituents to attract foreign investment to the sport.

Front Row is owned by Comcast-Spectator, the sports and entertainment conglomerate that owns cable companies, arenas, the Philadelphia Flyers, and a broad range of sports-services companies.

“The sport of horse racing is in the midst of an industry-wide repositioning in the new landscape we are in, and there is no better leading property to take advantage of that repositioning than this elite, lucrative, season-ending event,” said Chris Lechenski, the chief executive of Front Row, in a prepared statement. “It has tremendous upside and unlimited potential.”

Gluckson specifically pointed to Front Row’s work on behalf of America’s Cup, the yachting association, and Formula 1 racing, two sports that have international audiences.