NEWS
Part 2: Q&A with Breeders' Cup consultant William Field
Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 9:41 AM
WILLIAM FIELD
When Breeders’ Cup Ltd. launched a strategic planning process in 2008, the company turned to William Field, a sports management consultant who has worked extensively with sports leagues and organizations around the world over the last 25 years, including Premier League soccer.
Field helped the Breeders’ Cup establish four strategic pillars: to explore the feasibility of a single permanent host site location for the Breeders' Cup World Championships; to establish a new Breeders' Cup racing series in partnership with North American and European racetracks; to expand the company’s brand marketing and commercial development programs, with an emphasis on digital marketing and social media; and to take a new approach to nominations to significantly expand the number of Breeders' Cup eligible horses.
Field recently answered questions from THOROUGHBRED TIMES news editor Ed DeRosa and staff writer Jeff Lowe about the process.
Thoroughbred Times: What were the missing elements in past attempts to organize a racing series to lead up to the Breeders’ Cup?
William Field: “As part of the planning process, we looked at a number of the past attempts and some new ideas for creating racing series or leagues. I am in no doubt whatsoever that there needs to be a better overall structure for the sport.
The view of the majority of the directors and trustees is that a substantial restructuring of the sport to achieve a year-long NASCAR-type format would be challenging given the lack of a centralized authority with the ability to mandate the necessary schedule changes and participation by the top horses and tracks. And maybe more to the point, such an endeavor was beyond the scope and the resources of the Breeders’ Cup. So, while I think it’s a great objective for the industry as a whole, it isn’t within Breeders’ Cup’s gift to make [it] happen.
However, there was agreement to go forward with a targeted approach to linking the best races in North America and Europe to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the best-known and most marketable Breeders’ Cup asset, and the Breeders’ Cup will have more to say about that in the coming weeks.”
TT: What have you learned about American horse racing that has surprised you most?
Field: “I knew that American horse racing had to work in a complex, often out-dated, multi-jurisdictional legal environment. I knew there were a number of different industry bodies, with seemingly overlapping remits. I knew there were many tracks, quite a few of which ran low-quality, sub-scale race days in front of very few fans. But what I didn’t appreciate when I started this was the sheer magnitude of these factors. So, put simply, the sport is even more fragmented than I expected.
However, I should also say that I have been very pleasantly surprised by the quality, passion, and determination of so many people involved in the sport—doing their best on a day-to-day basis with the parts that they do have some ability to influence.”
TT: How is Breeders’ Cup similar to other marquee sporting events that might surprise people?
Field: “It is already a world-class sporting event in many ways. The single most important reason why it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other great events is that it brings together so many of the world’s best horses. The quality of any sporting event is a product of the caliber of the competitors. That is why maintaining and building on the quality of the fields is essential.
But there are other reasons, too—the purse level of over $25-million, which, as of last year, was still the highest two days of prize money for any sport in the world; the excellence of its television presentation through its global partnership with ESPN; the quality of the physical staging and presentation; and the overall customer experience. The challenge for the Breeders’ Cup is to deliver all these qualities to a bigger audience.”
TT: A lot of people have asked whether Breeders’ Cup should worry about itself or the industry at large. How has that answer evolved during your time consulting with Breeders’ Cup?
Field: “Too many initiatives in U.S. racing have, unfortunately, been exercises in rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. If, as the Breeders’ Cup has decided, the challenge is to make Breeders’ Cup a sporting brand with appeal to the wider public, then it must devote 100% of its energy and resources to doing so. U.S. racing has a plethora of organizations which represent parts of it to other parts of it. So, what Breeders’ Cup needs to do is to have a laser focus on the public—from seasoned handicappers to general sports fans who maybe have never made a wager and are unsure how to do so. Breeders’ Cup is committed to working in partnership with other parts of the industry to help achieve this goal.
The single biggest service that it can perform for racing is to succeed in engaging wider public interest in the Breeders’ Cup.”
TT: Are the factions within the American racing industry uniquely complex or comparable to any other sports industry you have observed?
Field: “I’ve worked in many sports with similar issues—how to coordinate across multiple bodies; how to balance ‘sporting’ and ‘commercial’ objectives; how to balance the needs of both the elite and the grass-roots; how to appreciate the difference between a ‘passionate fan’ and a ‘discerning consumer’?
But while one can reduce the issues to such generic types, the particulars of every sport are very different. And, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not sure I can think of any other sporting industry that is as fragmented as American horse racing. Overcoming this is a unique challenge.”
For Part 1 of the interview, click here.
