Horse Racing and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 isn't just video, social sites, blogs, and Twitter. It's none of those things and all of those things at the same time, and it's about time horse racing learn the difference. First, congratulations on the Youtube channels (Breeders' Cup, NTRA, NYRA), Facebook (same, and some more individual tracks, SA & MTH), Calendar functions, podcasts, new user friendly (sometimes) websites, and blogs written first hand by people who know what's going on. The industry has come a long way quickly. It's not enough. And, I'm not saying that like it's never enough, no, I mean as a first step it's all really close and good, but as a first step it's not enough. The best way to get a good Web 2.0 site up and running is to imagine if all your fans didn't have a TV or a phone, and had just turned on their computer for the first time. The best example of a sports entity crushing it in Web 2.0 land... MLB. Yes the old fuddy duddy American past time which just this year got instant replay is the leader when it comes to Web 2.0 execution and payoff. There are 2 main similarities between baseball and horse racing I'd like to mention. First, they both have a ton of content: 162 games spanning a season from April to November, racing 6 days a week 365 days a year. Managing that content is a major key to bringing in new fans, and making older fans happy. The best part, MLB.com is making money doing it while making the whole thing look good. Hopefully CDI is moving HD cameras into all of their tracks. To all the other tracks - now is the time to take some writedowns if you can and invest longer term in infrastructure. I can't stand to have Youtube pages over here and facebook friends over tere, and West Point doing their own thing somewhere else. Content collaborate. The second similarity is there are haves and have-nots. Not every team can be the Yankees. No team wants to be the Marlins. However, the great difference is the teams have come together to cooperate on MLB.com and share in the revenue it generates. Keeneland has a great website presence, the same can't be said of Philadelphia Park, and that's not acceptable. Not cooperating while everyone is more or less doing ok is fine, even if you do screw the customer in the process, but screwing the customer, driving your track into the ground, not cooperating, AND looking for a subsidy after YEARS of subsidies is enough. Act like a man and cooperate. MLB got off the ground with $75 million dollars. That's a lot of money, but MLB is already up and running, and doing well. The costs would be much lower today while the need is that much greater. And if you do read that article, and you should, MLB is outsourcing.