Lowest average crowds this century leave RCA searching for answers

A third straight year of decline in average attendances at British racecourses was on Thursday described as 'disappointing' by the Racecourse Association.

Data compiled by the Horseracing Levy Board revealed average crowds at British race meetings in 2018 fell to 3,924, the lowest this century and a 3.5 per cent drop from the 4,067 average in 2017.

Since a rise in 2015, average attendances have fallen by 7.8 per cent. The 2018 figure marks the first dip below a 4,000 average since 2013.

A total of 5.77 million people went racing in 2018, a drop of three per cent compared to the 2017 total of 5.95m – which itself was a slight reverse compared to the 5.99m who passed through the gates in 2016 and 6.13m in 2015.

The figure means the industry is at least on course to retain its position behind football as the number two professional spectator sport in Britain.

While the biggest racing fixtures continue to attract robust numbers, the 2018 median crowd figure of 1,567 – the middle value of all the attendances last year – supports concerns that everyday meetings are being increasingly less well-attended. The median figure was 1,813 in 2015.

External factors such as unseasonal weather and the World Cup were highlighted as reasons for lower attendances last year.

Paul Swain, brand and experience manager for the RCA, said on Thursday: "We're disappointed that the figure is down again but there were clear headwinds against the sport last year such as the World Cup and weather, which were significant challenges to overcome. With those in mind, we're content but disappointed that attendances are down overall."

The average crowd at jumps meetings was 3,823, down 1.6 per cent from 2017. The drop in flat attendances was more, a figure of 3,982 representing a 4.7 per cent drop.

As answers are sought, racecourses have been accused of over-charging for smaller meetings while criticism has been pointed at an over-sized fixture list.

The RCA said it was is working with racecourses to push advance ticket sales while also trying to grow larger fixtures on the calendar in the hope of encouraging a knock-on effect at lower levels.

'We're so far behind other sports in terms of advance sales'

Swain said: "We're pushing much for more for advanced sales and advanced sales figures have been going up for the last couple of years. That provides a foundation from which to grow attendances from and we're going to continue that strategy moving forward. As a sport we're so far behind other sports in terms of advance sales. We really need to push that more."

The ongoing work to promote advance tickets was evidenced by a three per cent year-on-year rise in 2018 with nearly two million advance sales. Swain believes this figure can improve again, with the model beneficial to racegoers and the courses alike.

"It gives racegoers a discount and works for everybody – it's just trying to change that behaviour," he added. "With the cold and the heatwave we saw a real drop in attendances for some fixtures but if they've already bought their tickets, it makes people think twice rather than giving it a miss."

Courses set to develop larger fixtures

As well as advance tickets, the RCA has been working with courses to develop larger fixtures on the calendar. The hope is that by increasing attendances at marquee days there will be a trickle down in numbers to more routine fare.

"The strategy we've taken with racecourses is to single out fixtures that can grow and have room to grow," Swain said. "The advance ticket sales data tells us it's the bigger fixtures that have got the most proficiency to develop. Courses have a lot more emphasis on growing those fixtures which in turn we hope will start to drip down to the smaller fixtures. There's always going to be a finite number of people who can go racing on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.

"It's a long-term strategy we've been doing for the last three years. I think we're seeing the first few steps with the bigger fixtures getting bigger and the longer-term stuff will hopefully start to flow down for that."

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