Because I have spent many years as a university professor, people sometimes ask me how students of today are different than those from previous generations. This is an easy question to answer: as a cohort, their attention spans are much shorter and the trend has been accelerating over the last decade…in conjunction with the explosion of affordable information and communications technologies.

Colleges and universities retain professionally educated staff whose job it is to assist students with learning disabilities like Dyslexia and also with test anxiety. These kinds of issues have been commonplace for years. Only in the last decade have I seen and heard of so many students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). In layman’s terms, this is basically a problem of having trouble focusing or concentrating for long. In earlier times, educators and others called it a wandering mind. The pharmaceutical industry offers drugs for its treatment.

In my university career I have been a professor, an associate dean, a department head, and a committee member evaluating professors for promotion and retention. Consequently, I have read countless student teaching evaluations of instructors. Compared to a decade or two ago, the word “boring” or a close equivalent crops up much more frequently to describe a classroom experience. Many contemporary students expect to be entertained, which, of course, is not the same as learning. Ipso facto, by the nature of the coursework, professors teaching the most intellectually challenging material and majors are disadvantaged in this regard, as compared to someone conveying less rigorous subjects.

(The “boredom factor” has evidently carried over to the workplace. The Conference Board has been doing surveys of Americans’ job satisfaction for 22 years. The most recent survey results were reported in January 2010 and revealed the lowest level of satisfaction ever, 45 percent. The recession no doubt is a major cause but one of the leading specific reasons was that more workers find their jobs to be  uninteresting.)

No doubt students’ generally shortened attention spans and expectations for classroom entertainment have been caused to a large degree by technologies that are available to them that were not around for their parents and grandparents. Mass access to cell phones, computers, email, text messaging, Twitter, Facebook and the like have created a frenetic pace of life and instantaneous feedback.

Often, digital communications technologies are a negative for cultivating strong interpersonal skills. An AT&T survey of 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 35 found that three out of four flirt by text messaging. I have read or heard of people at their workplace using text messaging to contact someone in the next office or carrel, rather than walking a short distance to talk face-to-face. I have witnessed people text messaging at an orchestra performance.

Moreover, if people talking on cell phones while driving cars is a hazard, text messaging has to be much worse. In fact, messaging has been the culprit in numerous auto accidents and the deadliest train crash in the United States in 15 years.

Little wonder that the arts are having a difficult time these days drawing a younger audience, who are accustomed to entertainment that is faster paced. Symphony orchestras, ballets, operas, and art museums are fighting an uphill battle to attract young men and women.

Even the most cerebral of cerebrals, Sherlock Holmes, has been brought into the digital age. The recent Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson is more about high-tech visual effects than it is about how a cool and calculating detective scientifically analyzes the clues and follows the trail of his quarry. Holmes purists would not recognize the macho Holmes and the non-bungling Watson. The pyrotechnics and action-filled narrative worked, as the movie was a hit at the box office.

All of this also has serious implications for the old-time sport of horse racing. If racing is to make inroads with the younger generation, it will have to continue to adapt the sport to the contemporary lifestyle, as with remote wagering. On the one hand, a certain segment of the young will be attracted to horse racing by the intellectual challenge of handicapping, just as people in generations before have been intrigued by the intricacies of figuring out who is going to win. But that won’t deliver enough fans to keep horse racing at a critical mass into the future. To survive, tracks will have to develop pari-mutuel products that do not require a detailed knowledge of handicapping and not much of a time commitment. Racetrack offerings will have to extend beyond the core pari-mutuel product. In short, the whole experience will have to be more compelling.

The communications and information technologies that the young take for granted are a potentially huge positive for pari-mutuel purveyors. Betting has never been easier and, in addition, social networking can be employed to generate interest in the sport of horse racing.

Whether horse racing is around as a significant sport/business 20 years hence depends on how adept racing executives prove to be in crafting an attractive value proposition for people who have a plethora of entertainment options to choose from and a lower threshold for boredom than generations past.

I recognize that my concerns could be wrong…that the youth of today will change as they age and begin to act like middle-aged and senior adults of today and the past. But I wouldn’t bet racing’s future on that happening.

Copyright © 2010 Horse Racing Business

“Top legislators shun [Governor] Beshear’s plea for gambling bill.” Louisville Courier-Journal, February 13, 2010

When General Motors and Chrysler were on the verge of financial collapse, the top elected officials in Michigan–and the other states heavily dependent on these firms–en masse and with alacrity did everything in their power to save the companies, which ultimately led to the federal bailout and prepackaged bankruptcies. Regardless of one’s position on government interference in the private sector in propping up weak companies, the fact is that state elected officials work closely with their business leaders to promote indigenous industries and companies. This encompasses such initiatives as tax breaks and incentives, worker training, lobbying the federal government, and loans and grants. Moreover, the more important an industry or company is to a state, the more sweeping and pressing is the effort.

The logic is obvious: industries and companies employ a state’s citizens and contribute to filling state coffers. In this day and age, the job description for governors, mayors, and other elected executives, entails economic development. This includes keeping companies from moving, attracting firms from other locales, encouraging and facilitating start-ups, and helping going concerns to expand in the state or community.

The rationale may be evident, but the situation in Kentucky pertaining to the horse racing and breeding industry defies explanation. I am the chairman of the board of a small business development center, whose job it is to assist people to start and expand businesses, have taught marketing and entrepreneurship in universities for years, and have co-authored a book on economic development. In all my experiences and research, I cannot find an example other than Kentucky where upper-echelon state elected officials have willfully worked to weaken the state’s number one industry, perhaps even with malice toward the enterprise, and have done so while ignoring the will of the majority of constituents. Imagine if prominent legislative leaders were anti-auto in Michigan, anti-wine in California, or anti-casino in Nevada. 

When the steel industry was leaving Pittsburgh for offshore destinations, elected leaders in Pennsylvania fought against long odds to retain the industry. The same thing happened in North Carolina when the textile industry was eviscerated. Officials in cities that have lost NFL franchises have battled mightly to keep them, realizing their importance not only to fans but also to the local economy. Recently, when the voters in Ohio approved a referendum authorizing four casinos, the governor and legislature in contiguous Pennsylvania wasted little time in permitting the Keystone state’s casinos to add table games to their fare. Kentucky, regarding its treatment of the racing and breeding industry, is the inexplicable exception that proves the rule that state leaders fight to the end to maintain homegrown industries, especially the most prominent ones.

One can only wonder about the rationale and motives of unresponsive legislators in Kentucky, particularly given the overwhelming sentiment of their own constitutents to permit slots at racetracks (voters favor racetrack slots by over a 3-to-2 margin). What prompts a person sworn to act in the best interests of the citizenry to purposefully and apparently contemptuously derail an industry that employs thousands of people, contributes so much in the way of tax revenues, with farms that provide a beautiful tourist-attracting ambiance to the Bluegrass region and a racetrack in Louisville that has a historical gem of a two-minute race telecast around the world? From the standpoint of costs versus benefits, what benefits could possibly outweigh the costs derived from downsizing Kentucky’s number one industry? The underlying motivations must be subjective and emotionally charged.

To illustrate, consider the objection voiced by Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams, who is the leader of the elected officials opposed to slot machines at racetracks. In his view, expanded gambling is deleterious to the welfare of Kentuckians, or else he would not stand in the way. Yet the gentleman has been a vigorous supporter of tobacco, as evidenced by his recognition in 2000 as a Friend of Tobacco (as extolled on his personal website). Contemplate the contradiction. Whereas gambling in moderation can be fun and entertaining, tobacco use has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not even in moderation, and is responsible for a litany of physical ailments, including premature death. A political leader who defends tobacco–a dying industry in more ways than one–and blocks expanded gaming in the name of consumer protection has staked out an indefensible intellectual position and thereby has called into question his agenda and/or his analytical thought process. It would be educational to also determine Senator Williams’ attitudes toward two other mainline Kentucky industries with social baggage, bourbon and coal. To what extent has he fostered and promoted their continued well being?

Whatever the reasons, the end result is to undo the 225-year work that began in colonial days with Daniel Boone and continued with the endeavors of Henry Clay, Dr. Elisha Warfield, Matt Winn, Arthur “Bull” Hancock, and numerous other Kentuckians, both famous and not (see Part I of this article for an historical perspective).

As compared to other states in terms of the educational proficiency of its citizens, Kentucky has long been at the lower end of the rankings. Certainly, this is not an enviable position to be in, especially given the increasingly high-tech world that people live and work in. Ostensibly, a thinking person in the Kentucky governorship or legislature would do everything possible to keep the best of Kentucky tradition, notably its equine preeminence, while at the same time work to prepare Kentucky residents for the jobs of tomorrow.

The way to do both is patently evident. Strengthen the racing and breeding enterprises by expanding gaming at the racetracks so that they can at least be reasonably competitive with full-line casino offerings in tangential states–Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia–and not-too-distant Pennsylvania. This is a win-win because the state’s cut of the racetrack’s revenues could be dedicated by law to education, funding of commercially-promising technology research, seed money for start-up ventures, and loans for business expansion.

Kentucky has two choices: (1) ruin the racing and breeding industry and compensate for the lost tax revenues with cuts to education, social services, and the like; or (2) bolster the industry and obtain the funds to augment economic development efforts and to improve education. What elected official would want a legacy associated with the first choice? Apparently, a few powerful ones at least.

The ever-logical Dr. Spock of Star Trek fame would look at these choices and be certain that Kentucky’s elected officials, of all political persuasions, and the business community are working together, with a sense of great urgency, to save and strengthen the Commonwealth’s flagship industry and, at the same time, are beginning to reap the wherewithal to get the state and its citizenry positioned to compete in the 21st century.

Spock would be wrong. It does not compute. Something is amiss  in Kentucky.

Copyright © 2010 Horse Racing Business

Super Bowl Facts:

The 2010 Super Bowl attracted 106 million television viewers, making it the most watched program in the history of U. S. television. The 1983 final episode of “M-A-S-H” is second.

The cost of a 30-second advertisement was $3 million and sold out.

The Indianapolis Colts are the 7-1 favorite to win the 2011 Super Bowl and the New Orleans Saints are 9-1.

Some of the Proposition Bets that Pertained to the 2010 Super Bowl:

How many current NFL Players will be arrested during Super Bowl Week?

Over/Under 0.5

How long will it take Carrie Underwood to sing the National Anthem?

Over/Under 1 minute 45 seconds .

Who gets more mentions on CBS television, Archie Manning (Peyton’s father) or Hurricane Katrina?

Archie Manning     Even

Hurricane Katrina     Even

How Many Times will CBS show Kim Kardashian during the Game?

Over/Under 2.5

How Many Times will CBS show Bourbon Street during the Game?

Over/Under 2

Will a member of the Who smash a guitar on stage during the halftime show?

Yes +120 No -150

Horse Racing Business Proposition Bets for Thoroughbred Racing in 2010:

Will customers be playing slots at Aqueduct by the close of November 2010 (even if it is in a temporary facility)?

Yes   Even

No     Even

In how many races will Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta compete against one another in 2010?

Over/Under 1 (no bets accepted from California winery billionaires)

The next time that either Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta (or both) race against equine males on national television, how many times during the telecast will the announcers refer to her taking on “the boys”?

Over/Under 1.5 (this is the anthropomorphic proposition) 

How many times will the announcers on the NBC telecast of the Kentucky Derby refer to the difficulties of evaluating horses that have run mostly or entirely on synthetic surfaces?

Over/Under 1.5

How many starters will there be in the 2010 Belmont?

Over/Under 9

Between D. Wayne Lukas and Todd Pletcher, how many different horses will they start and run in the 2010 Triple Crown races?

Over/Under 5

What will be the average television rating for the 2010 Breeders’ Cup?

Over/Under .8 (as long as the powers that be at the Breeders’ Cup insist on scheduling against college football during the day, the ratings will continue to tank…how low can they go?)

What will be the opening weekend box office gross for the Secretariat movie in the United States?

Over/Under $6.8 million

What will be the price of Churchill Downs stock on Derby Day 2010 (at the close of the Nasdaq on April 30, 2010)?

Over/Under $38.20

Cumulative gross sales in dollars for 2010 at the Keeneland auctions will be at what level compared to 2009?

Over/Under + 12%

Total pari-mutuel handle on horse racing for the United States and Canada in 2010 will be at what level compared to 2009?

Over/Under – 3.5%

Copyright © 2010 Horse Racing Business