Harness: Video killing the Standardbred star?

When I worked at Northfield Park, the Battle of Lake Erie was one of the top free-for-all pacing events anywhere, drawing top champions like Matt’s Scooter, Jaguar Spur, Gallo Blue Chip, Dragon Again and Falcon Seelster, among others. Back then, my final job on Battle night was to grab several video cases and deliver tape of the race to the three network stations. Sometimes we made it there in time for the 11 PM newscast, sometimes for the late-night sports update and sometimes the tape didn’t air until the next day. But the stations wanted the content, so we found ways to get it to them. One year, we managed to get the race broadcast live.

Today, transmitting video is so much easier and there is a lot more of it out there. It is disseminated online through various services. You can get live video of most races, usually free, simply by logging on to many track websites, or at the least, with an online wagering account.

You can watch harness racing video stories at the United States Trotting Association’s Harness Racing Fan Zone. Michael Carter and Wendy Ross do yeoman’s work with this content (Disclaimer- Wendy was an intern at Northfield who co-hosted our TV Handicapping show with me back when she was a young pup and I was a middle age prognosticator), as did Allison Conte before them. It’s informative, usually entertaining (come on – trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. doing Carpool Karaoke?), and very millennial oriented. There are commercial parodies and all kinds of just generally fun stuff.

Out East, Heather Vitale may be the most entertaining and energetic interviewer we have. She does her reporting for Harness Racing Update and for the Post Time show. One of her most memorable pieces involves Yannick Gingras, the ice bucket challenge and a whipped cream pie. I will spare you the gory details, but it was a funny, informative piece.

Even here at DRF Harness, Matt Rose and the esteemed Derick Giwner do video handicapping analysis that is readily available and entertaining, although I have not yet seen Derick take a pie to the face. Yet. (Are you reading this Matt?).

There is one place we do not see these videos: on television. We lament that the Hambletonian is the only harness race shown on live cable TV and that it is not on broadcast, but on cable. Keep in mind that nearly 60% of the NCAA March Madness, arguably the most popular sporting event in the country, is on cable, not broadcast. But where are the Wendy Rosses and Heather Vitales on “real television?” They are not around and I would argue it is not due to lack of interest.

With the expansion of regional sports networks, and ESPN expanding to the point that references to ESPN 8 (the Ocho) in the movie Dodgeball were taken only half in jest, we need to look at those outlets. Fox has its broadcast network and multiple sports network, and CBS and NBC also have their own sports networks. TVG is crying for quality content, but they are already catering to racing fans, so I am not that concerned with it. Let’s provide the general sports outlets with content that is already being created. Other sports do it. Let’s emulate them.

Here in Cleveland, the Kaulig Racing Xfinity Nascar team has a weekly two minute blurb on the local NBC Newscast, reviewing their results. It is a piece that team owner Matt Kaulig produces himself and places on the show. I reached out to Matt to find out if these are paid spots; part of sponsorship package; or just video placements, but he is traveling and was unavailable for comment.

These stations – broadcast and cable—eat up huge amounts of content and the major sports are sending them highlight packages on a daily basis. With a small investment, we could and should be doing the same. We would reach people we don’t normally reach, and that has value.

Naysayers will say, “Too many people are unplugging from cable. There is Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and others.” True. And that could mean that these sports networks may become more pressed for content as resources are reallocated.

As I mentioned, the technology has changed. It’s so much easier to get the content to the networks. We don’t need Heather Vitale driving through the night to get her video to 30 Rock, the NBC headquarters in New York City. She can just e-mail it. And the equipment is easier to work with, too. When I was recently interviewed by a local news station (the same one that Kaulig Racing uses, ironically) the reporter carried a small digital camera, not the huge TV camera we all think of.

Don’t get me wrong. Social Media and online content are great and they need to be a big part of how we promote harness racing heading into the 2020s. But those media allow us to reach our base, to preach to the choir. Let’s not be blinded by the big shiny Internet and ignore the good old standby, which craves content, especially when the medium does not have to pay to produce it. Yes, we would need to pound on some doors and develop some relationships, but it is still the best way to reach sports fans who are not (yet) racing fans. Agree? Disagree? Drop me a note at klgisser@earthlink.net and tell me what you think.

That’s it for now. Good luck and go cash. And then check out that video feature on your winning horse on ESPN 8 – The Ocho. See you next month.