Maffei Optimistic About Raising Interest in Racing

With a July announcement of plans to launch the Horse Racing League next season, the team-based league's co-founder Greg Maffei proved a timely choice as keynote speaker at The Jockey Club's Round Table on Matters Pertaining to Racing Aug. 6 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. While Maffei is not the first person to create a horse racing league that aims to bring focus to the sport, he is the first with a track record for building new interest in another racing sport, in this case Formula 1 auto racing. Under Maffei's leadership as president and CEO of Liberty Media, F1 saw interest boom after Liberty took over the sport in 2017. Keys to that growth included expanded marketing in the United States, launch of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, support of the popular show "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" that provided insider access to the sport, and social media that helped fans connect with drivers, teams, and rivalries. Maffei, who already has signed on such industry heavyweights as Godolphin, WinStar Farm, Gary Barber, and Vinnie Viola for the three-event HRL planned for 2027 at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, and Santa Anita Park, expressed excitement Thursday at trying to create new Thoroughbred racing fans. Speaking directly to the industry heavy hitters assembled at the Saratoga Springs City Center, he said they would not be the target audience of the HRL's planned YouTube and social media presence. "The one thing I can say about HRL... is it's not for any of you," Maffei said to the room. "You guys already know the majesty of horse racing. You know the grandeur. You know the history, the pageantry, the excitement. We want to reach out and tell it to a bunch of people who either only see it once a year or haven't seen it at all." READ: Round Table Speakers Offer Ideas on Building Connection Maffei noted that today's sports fans want to live the experience. "The whole experience is the product," Maffei said of his plans for the HRL, where teams will draft horses and jockeys to compete. The Jockey Club chair Everett Dobson welcomed Maffei's interest in building horse racing after transforming F1. "He has turned his attention to our industry with the launch of the Horse Racing League," Dobson said. "I don't believe that's a coincidence. I think it's a signal. It's a signal that serious people with serious track records see what we see; that this sport, presented the right way, can compete for the modern fan." Maffei said the growth in interest in the Kentucky Derby (G1) suggests racing can have other success stories. "The Kentucky Derby has doubled its audience, and it's doubled it in a time when linear television has been effectively halved. The number of cable households over the last 23 years has gone down dramatically, and (the Derby) has grown its presence enormously. Why? The 24 million fans tune in because the Kentucky Derby is an event," Maffei said. "How many people tell you, 'Oh, I want to go to the Kentucky Derby at least once,' and that's it? A lot of them disappear for the rest of their lives, or at least for the rest of the year. "Horse racing... doesn't have an attention problem; it has a retention problem. Our goal is obviously to change that and build an ongoing relationship with fans that continues."