Right Step Right Direction

This weekend Churchill put on a pair of events here and here to help several charities as well as to bring further awareness to breast cancer. I for one am glad to see things like this happen. Unfortunately neither article made any hint of what effect these two days had for attendance and handle which many tracks view as the immediate reward for their efforts. A lot of marketing departments are under significant pressure these days to put more fans in the seats and more dollars in the auto totes all while on tight budgets.

For those not familiar the NTRA Online Task Force put together a large document that was presented at the September NTRA Marketing Summit in Las Vegas. At the end the group put a strong emphasis on charity work. The reason for this is several fold. First, many members of the millennial generation are very interested in doing good and are supportive of those who make such efforts. Second, in light of all the negative press we have received this year showing what good the sport can create helps cast ourselves in a better light.

Where tracks need to focus their charity efforts is in their local communities. Wal-Mart makes a major point about affecting the neighborhood and then promoting it so that the public knows. It helps deflect all the flak they take over how they utilize their employees. Tracks should do the same, focusing on community projects that target the low income neighborhoods. Why low income? Groups such as Focus on the Family point out that the majority of those who gamble heavily are among the poorest in our population. It would make since then to return some of that money to our sport's most frequent customers in the form of food drives, neighborhood clean ups, and park and school yard improvements. Additional ideas would include health fairs to educate and blood drives with bone marrow registry to share and improve quality of life.

Do ideas like this cost a lot of money? In reality they do not. Many tracks are already very generous with complementary admissions. Giving them out in food or blood drives makes sense. Clean ups and other neighborhood improvements usually are very time demanding but financially speaking are low cost especially if places like the Home Depot are willing to donate supplies. The workforce for these events could easily come from the current fan base.

When you step back and take a look at it, charity efforts with a community bent is a win win situation for everyone.

Perseverance!