When More Hockey is Better than Less Horse Racing

Vic Zast

From the perspective of being an owner, an industry pioneer in corporate sponsorship, a track president and fan, Vic Zast writes the "Destinations" column for The Blood-Horse. His five-star ratings of international events have shed light on racing in all corners of the globe - from England, Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai to Japan.

Vic is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com, a columnist for the Illinois Racing News and has written on racing for ESPN.com, National Public radio and The Age, Australia's leading daily.

Vic makes his home in Chicago and lives in Saratoga Springs in August.

Monday, May 21, 2007

The 5.4 Neilsen rating which the Preakness earned wasn’t the reason why the sudden death overtime period of the Buffalo Sabres vs. Ottawa Senators Stanley Cup playoff game was abandoned on NBC Network Television. No, the reason was that the television contract between the NTRA and NBC required the network to switch to Preakness coverage precisely at 5 PM.

It’s a common complaint of horse racing fans that key races often get replaced by other sporting events that run into overtime or face rain delays or have some complicating factor that causes them to run longer than planned. Thoroughbred horse racing rarely gets higher TV ratings than another sport, but the NHL has its problems, too.

The ratings for the hockey game did a 1.2 in the Neilsen’s – good enough for the Versus cable network, but not good enough to force a contractual squabble. Too bad for hockey fans – the Senators won 15 minutes into the Preakness telecast, while the Preakness went at least 30 minutes too long with content that nobody cared about.

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When More Hockey is Better than Less Horse Racing

Monday, May 21, 2007