THE BUSINESS ASPECT OF RACING.

Shannon News, 7 April 1926, Page 3

THE BUSINESS ASPECT OF RACING.

There would be less twaddle spoken and written about racing if cold eommonsense could be installed into some people’s heads and make them' realise that whilst it still retains,, and must retain, the necessary sporting atmosphere to keep it alive, it has become, and must be recognised .as, a gigantic business proposition, writes ‘ ‘ Sentinel. ’ * There is a tremendous amount of money kept in constant circulation by racing. It may amount to only about £20,000, 000 per annum. This total is made up by five going through the totalisatoT, five going through the • fielders, five spent in travelling expenses, and five more to allow the hundreds and thousands of people to present the well-dress-ed appearance which is a conspicuous feature of every race meeting, great or small, in the country. There is also, by the way, a tremendous amount of money wasted in unnecessary racecourses and their equipment. For instance, thousands of pounds have been spent on racecourses which are idle for 364 or 363 days of the year. This goes to show that the popularity of Tacing both circulates and wastes a vast amount of money, and the only people who will not, or cannot, realise the fact are those interested in some tinpot meeting totally dependent on outside support for its unnecessary existence. The principal fact to be considered in connection with racing to-day is its business aspect. Everyone who “stops to think’’ over tire situation must grasp the fact that there is a tremendous business created by the popular indulgence in racing. Many clubs and others do not seem to realise the fact. They want pounds and pounds of publicity for their meetings without' a comparative penny of business reciprocity. They waste pounds and pounds in paying people whom public opinion has condemned time after time as unfit for the responsible positions they hold. As a business proposition it is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs that people are “on the bridge’’ who would not be allowed to retain office in an ordinary commercial affair for ten minutes when once their incapacity became recog-' nised. The busines side of racing demands the best of everything in the wav of control, both from a social and commercial point of view. The business side of racing demands more attention than it is receiving, and until that aspect of a most important question is considered and probed more deeply than it has up to date, neither the sport nor the public will receive genuine value or a sporting run for its money.