Kentucky Derby: most padded sports event?

[RealityChuck]

In a sense, the Derby needs the expanded coverage. For 90% of the audience, it’s the only horse race they see all year. They know absolutely nothing about the horses involved, the trainers, the jockey, or anything else about the race. None of the horses are the same as the previous year. In order to appreciate it, they need to be brought up to speed.

The SuperBowl, OTOH, 80% of the audence has watched football at some time that year and know what teams are involved. Whereas probably about 1% of the KD audience has seen any of the horses run; I’d guess well over half the SB audience has seen at least one of the teams.

So the KD padding is necessary, but the SB padding is just an excuse to sell more products.

[blinkingblinking]

This is a 3 minute horse race with a public holiday. I kid you not. Melbourne Cup day -first Tuesday in November is a full public (bank) holiday in Melbourne,Australia

[brianjedi]

@blinkingblinking

This is a 3 minute horse race with a public holiday. I kid you not. Melbourne Cup day -first Tuesday in November is a full public (bank) holiday in Melbourne,Australia

We get around that by running the Derby on the first Saturday in May, although you can be sure it would be a state holiday otherwise.

[Kilvert_s_Pagan]

@brianjedi

We get around that by running the Derby on the first Saturday in May, although you can be sure it would be a state holiday otherwise.

I deal with vendors based in Louisville that insist upon including “the first Friday in May” in their contracts as a recognized holiday. For non-locals —> this is “Oaks Day”, the day before Derby, in which the Kentucky Oaks is run. So there is some parallel.