The European horse racing industry can learn a lot from the razzle dazzle of the American NFL. Last month Marc Reeves, the NFL’s international commercial director, gave racing executives a lesson in world-class marketing at the
annual Racing conference. Reeves outlined theNFL's 365-day promotional build-up, joking that the actual 16-game schedule, a prelude to playoffs and the Super Bowl, is “arguably the most boring part of the year”.
The NFL has even managed to turn its annual draft of promising college players into a spectacle, he added. “It’s really just our commissioner standing up on a podium like this opening an envelope, and yet we’ve turned that into three days of prime-time live TV.”
HBA is meeting with Cheltenham in December about adding to the razzle dazzle at Gold Cup Day.
