Originally Posted By: billt460
Today we look at past ancient history, and wonder how people in Roman times could watch as Gladiators killed each other. And how people cheered while some poor, weak guy was eaten alive by lions. All for the sole purpose of someone else's entertainment. In another generation many will look at the failure of the NFL and professional boxing in much the same manner.
While some may find it entertaining watching opposing guys bash their heads together, or beat each other to a bloody pulp. Many are looking at the whole thing, and are forming other more educated opinions. There are simply much better things to do with your time. Especially when you consider the cost to attend these events today. Families will instead start spending time together. They'll start paying more attention to one another. Instead of cheering while another player is carted off the field on a stretcher. Or some 25 year old boxer who is so punch drunk, can no longer give an interview and make any sense.
Auto racing is the exception to all of this because it is dependent on technology. Both to make the cars go fast, but more importantly to make them safer in the process. The problem is the way it is being managed. Like professional football and boxing, greed has taken over and made it unaffordable for the masses. The owners haven't figured out these masses have a limited amount of disposable income to spend on the weekend to watch their product.
And they've tried so many stupid things to "improve" it, all they have accomplished is they've managed to make it all worse. Because the people now in charge never had the talent to manage it in the first place.
That's the biggest problem right there. Every "improvement" they make is not to try to convince people to come. It's to convince people to drop major coin.
This is something I understand very well in business, because my marine business is mostly big $$$/event, whereas my produce distribution is a lot of decidedly smaller transactions....but a LOT of them.
But there is a difference. Restaurants are not going to just decide not to buy produce, like people are not going to decide to stop eating. They can and will decide not to go put their butt in a seat at an arena or stadium.
What they are killing is their culture. Culture is why these sports are so popular. If Dad doesn't take his kid to football or other sports events because to go will cost the same as his mortgage payment, then why is Son going to get interested enough to do it himself?
Unfortunately for them, recent history and the present are littered with giants too dumb to recognize why people love and hate them, and certainly too dumb to do the right thing to keep people onboard.
Football is still the #1 TV event, and Blockbuster is still the #1 video rental retail store. Yes, I realize there is a difference, but the old adage of "we're so huge that we can't lose" just isn't true anymore.
Why? Because if you look at the death of any giant, you're going to see that it always begins with a small decline, followed by a free fall that no amount of action can help them recover from.
Right now it seems unlikely, but what happens when the next big thing comes along? The next Amazon, next internet, next streaming video, etc.?
Big companies still haven't learned that they need to stop angering their customers, and they need to be dug into their culture with as many roots as possible, or the next big thing can kill them.