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Why Horse Racing Does Not Want A Triple Crown Winner

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The American public loves a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event, which explains why the Pacquiao-Mayweather boxing match earlier this month generated record numbers in terms of gate money and pay-per-view orders.

When the fight concluded and the anticipation was over, when will the next time be where sports fans are this excited over a boxing match?

One can say a similar statement about the sport of horse racing and the upcoming Belmont Stakes. If American Pharoah succeeds in winning the Triple Crown, sure it will be great for horse racing with an immediate impact, yet, the year after year excitement will be gone. We can compare it to the Boston Red Sox World Series drought. After the Red Sox clinched the 2004 title and ended the 86 year old curse, whenever the Red Sox made the playoffs again and won both the 2007/2013 championships, that exhilaration was not merely the same.

No matter the outcome of the race fans of the sport are being given an opportunity to witness history for the first time since Affirmed achieved the feat in 1978.

Just like ticket prices for the aforementioned boxing match skyrocketed as people raced to get their hands on admission to the event, ticket sales for the Belmont Stakes, scheduled to run on June 6, already are seeing a huge spike on the secondary market compared to years past.

The moment American Pharoah won the Preakness, ticket prices on SeatGeek .com more than doubled, jumping from what was an average of $120 to $250 overnight. Typically, prices rise even more as the event draws closer, and the 2015 Belmont Stakes could generate even more money per ticket than expected with attendance going down this year out of necessity.

This is because last year, when it was California Chrome running for the Triple Crown, there were so many people in attendance at the event (over 102,000) that a cap on attendance had to be set at 90,000 for this year’s race. Taking that into consideration, it is no wonder that prices are higher than a year ago; the tickets are scarcer.

There is no telling if that will have any effect on how much money is bet on the Belmont Stakes. Last year over $92 million was bet on the horses racing that day, much of which ended up on California Chrome, who finished fourth overall. In 2008, around 94,000 fans came to see Big Brown attempt to win the Triple Crown. Before that there was Smarty Jones in 2004 who brought in over 120,000 fans that bet north of $110 million.

The New York Racing Association understands that fewer patrons will mean less income at the gate this year. Earlier trends suggest that the betting numbers are likely to be down a bit from a year ago as well. However, the NYRA is not as concerned with making a little extra money as with improving the quality of the fan experience. There are not a lot of sporting organizations that would make this same sacrifice. With fewer seats available it is pushing up ticket sale prices, which is great for resale websites like SeatGeek and StubHub.

Only thirteen horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness since 1978, which makes these back-to-back attempts undeniably exciting for racing fans. American Pharoah is currently the favorite to win the race at 2/3 odds, but that likely is a more a lure for bettors than a true assessment of the odds.

Whether or not American Pharoah actually wins, it is clear that a horse with a shot at the Triple Crown is great for business, not only in driving up secondary market prices on admission, but also in getting fans to bet on the horses. Should that horse win, one can only imagine how much money the next potential Triple Crown winner would drum up, because there is nothing America loves more than sporting events that make history.

Robert Tuchman is President of Goviva, an experiential marketing agency based in New York City. Previously he founded TSE Sports and Entertainment. He is the author of Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur. Follow him @roberttuchman