NBA's Stern tells racing to clean up its image

NEW YORK – Former NBA Commissioner David Stern had some advice for racing: Clean up your act if you want to improve the prospects for racing, and you need to do that before you can market it. Well, he did not say those exact words Friday, but those in attendance at the inaugural Pan American Conference, held in New York City on Thursday and Friday, could well take away that message.

Stern, the featured guest of the second day of the Pan Am Conference, spoke to a packed room of more than 300 people as part of a question-and-answer session with Ben Vonwiller, a partner at McKinsey & Co. During a 40-minute conversation, Stern noted that he recently saw two negative pieces about racing, one in The New York Times and the other in USA Today, both on the eve of the Triple Crown attempt by American Pharoah.

“If you asked fans about the problems in racing, they would say drugs – overmedication of horses – retirement of horses, and whips. You just can’t [fix problems] with marketing, though. You have to make sure your product is what you want it to be and fight with those who are inside and outside who are not [part of the solution].”

When Stern took over as commissioner of the NBA in 1984, the league had a host of problems, including a poor image among fans. Several years earlier, the sport could not even get its finals on live TV, but rather tape delay. Stern took the sport to where it is now shown in more than 200 countries and territories, and the league has seen a 30-fold increase in revenue, to $6 billion.

“We improved the product because we were tired of people thinking that to play in the NBA, you had to use drugs,” Stern said.

Under Stern’s leadership, the NBA was the first professional sport to implement anti-doping regulations. Once it addressed its problems, the sport was able to market itself to fans – Fan-Tastic was one of the first promotions and iterations used afterward – to where it is now the second-most popular sport in the world, behind soccer.

“We had to change the product,” he said. “We had a problem with the product. [Racing, because there are so many tracks] is a harder group to corral. There’s a fair amount of work that needs to be done.”

Stern noted that racing has a big advantage in the marketplace, especially over fantasy games, which are becoming increasingly popular.

“If you have an itch to gamble, you can scratch it by having a race to gamble on somewhere,” he said.

He pointed out that racing is legal in 37 states, and that people who play fantasy games are good prospects for racing.

Stern also noted that racing needs to find a way to bring people to the track, because the track experience is different than a TV experience, just like being in a basketball arena is far different from watching it on TV.

“Being at the track, in the arena, should be presented as being something special.”