Late Friday, the B.C. Horse Racing Industry Management Committee’s draft report recommending ways to make B.C. horse racing financially stable and sustainable was released.
The report is a tool for consultation between the committee and industry stakeholders. A final report will be released when consultations are complete.
"Tweaking the details of a century-old business model will no longer work. Success requires a bold and determined transformation of the industry. The degree to which industry partners stay focused and pull in the same direction will determine the outcome," notes the Committee draft report, proposing that both thoroughbred and harness racing must transform their business model to better reflect and address the competition.
"Each breed must compete not just against other racetracks and gaming facilities, but against the entire entertainment industry. This requires a wholesale re-evaluation of horse racing’s products and their reconfiguration as a unique entertainment experience."
The report indicates that the Committee has identified fundamental changes that are required at the industry level to align the interests of stakeholders and establish the bedrock on which the breeds can build their new business models. There are four elements of change that the Committee believes should be undertaken:
• The breeds should have more influence over the strategy and direction of the industry. Breed associations and the Track Operator should come together to form management groups (one for each breed) that will become the controlling minds of the new racing strategy and make key decisions such as season length, marketing allocations, etc;
• The two breeds should be decoupled to pursue unique and independent strategies in order to achieve success;
• The funding model should reflect this decoupling so that benefits derived from the execution of independent strategies flow to reward the breeds’ actions; and
• A financial transparency program should be put in place to promote trust and understanding between industry partners.
The Committee also recommends the following to support industry transformation:
• Industry governance should change to complement the new industry model. A Governance Triangle is proposed to provide appropriate support, information flow and dispute resolution in order to foster innovation throughout the industry;
• The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) should take on greater participation with Teletheatre BC (TBC) to leverage BCLC’s marketing capability and integrate operations where synergies exist;
• The Track Operator should provide expert advice and operations for live racing on a cost-recovery basis. Any surpluses or deficits generated from operations would be handled according to a formula determined during consultations regarding industry funding as a whole; and
• The provincial government should provide stable support to enable the industry’s transformation. (Government has already made this commitment – December 2012.)
The full draft report is available here or embedded in PDF format below.
The B.C. Horse Racing Industry Management Committee was created on November 17, 2009 to provide strategic direction, decision-making and business leadership to the horse racing industry in B.C.